Empty Canvas
by SomethingWrongWithMe
Summary: Deidara didn't die for this. He didn't want to spend the rest of afterlife with an Uchiha. [tobidei] Ongoing.
1. Premise

**I hope making a premise to a story goes along with the guidelines...**

 **So, I found this fic again on my computer (I started it a long time ago and corrected some stuff as of late) and I thought I'd publish it, hoping someone will actually like it. The reason why I'm making a whole chapter for premises is the story's coherence with the canon.**

 **So, we all know how messy and intricate Naruto's plotline is. Loads of characters, even more techniques, everyone has a backstory, continuous flashbacks and plot twists... It's really hard to keep it in mind, in fact, I don't know how Kishi does. What I basically did is I lumped some techniques together. The dimension one teleports to using** ** _kamui_** **is the same summoned by** ** _tsukuyomi_** **and** ** _infinite tsukuyomi_** **. It is also reachable by meditation. I apologize if I've overlooked something in the canon this 'theory' is not compatible with, take it as an AU if I did. Also, I made up some parts of Deidara's past. I suppose that's what everyone does since we know very little about his life.**

 **And the warnings...**

 **I think writing should be about going outside your boundaries, so I won't list every controversial subject that could come up here. This story could have** ** _anything_** **in it, so if you're uncomfortable with reading** ** _anything_** **to the point of being mentally scarred, don't read it. The only thing I can say (to give you guys a motivation, sort of) is that it's tobidei.**

 **Sorry for rambling on for so long.**

 **The Author**


	2. One

He woke up with a sense of floating in his head and stomach and no idea about the time and place. The only memory he had so far was his death. He was sure he would be able to remember everything else later on, but something drew his attention more at the moment. Was this Heaven or Hell? Judging by the red skies above him, the second seemed a more logical option, but then again, everything was peaceful around. And he was alone, he felt that from the first moment. He tried to get up from the ground covered with grayish soil and felt something falling all over his back as he did so; right, he had long hair. Back then, when he was alive, they called him Deidara. After agreeing with himself about his identity, the man started to examine his surroundings. The irrealistic place resembled a huge desert, like the one he had crossed with his former partner, Sasori, on that certain mission when the roots of all the problems he ever had grew. The only differences were the colors and the pitch-black trees sprawled sparsely. When Deidara looked better, he spotted a bigger group of them. Should he walk there? Maybe he could find something less monotone... The dead artist forced himself to sit up, the feeling of dizziness still not going away. He leaned forward and positioned the weight of his body on his arms, trying to move his legs to the sides. His right knee was out of the way, but suddenly, exhaustion hit him and he fell back.

"Dammit..." he cussed silently. He could've shouted, if he wanted to, he realized. No one was going to hear anyway. Not being able to get up made Deidara feel pathetic. Even the fact that he could move or feel as dead was useless if he remained in the same damn place... He made a second attempt to stand, and this time, he coped with it quite nicely, finally taking a step. He stumbled a bit, but he was walking, and he didn't fall. Deidara looked at his feet, then his hands and body. He wore a plain, black cloak (where could it possibly come from?), but nothing was missing. He still had the two mouths on his hands, which had formed with a jutsu from a forbidden scroll he stole from Iwagakure five years ago. Really, how much time could have passed since he died? Did time even exsist here? The artist didn't try to answer those questions, like he was living a dream, where some things just didn't matter. His small steps didn't make any noise, in fact, he felt like a ghost. There was a small feeling of bitterness to it; the man wished he could see something slightly familiar to remind him of the human world, a construction, a written word or a face. It was almost like... Yes, this world resembled a genjutsu.

While taking his little 'trip', Deidara wondered if he was ever going to reach the forest. It was the only reference point he could see, but the more he moved, the further away it seemed. After a while, he started to gaze at the sky absentmindedly. The fast movements of the clouds were the most interesting thing around him. Not seeing what was in front of him, he crashed into a tree, falling down on the ground again. His nick was much better now, so he stood up right away, pleasedly seeing he had arrived. The wood was nothing special -just the same, black, seemingly dead trees-, but it was big. A lot bigger than it seemed from the point where Deidara had found himself. His face lightened up when he glimpsed at the gray, regural-shaped object 20-30 meters from him. It was a house! Even if it seemed empty, someone must have built it, so he wasn't the only living thing in this world after all... He moved closer to be able to examine the habitation. It wouldn't have caught the eye in the human world; an ordinary, small, oriental house with a few windows covered with gray rice paper, to boot, faded into the ambient perfectly. Deidara might not even have noticed it if it wasn't for the fact that there was one single house in the radius of 20 kilometers. He walked around all the building to find the door. It was on the opposite side, outside of the forest. The house stood at the margin of it. The artist slid the door open, not really caring about not bursting into unknown people's houses in his current position. The interior had two rooms, separated by another door, identical to the front one. The first had a small, black tea table and a pillow on the floor, the second a simple futon. And that was all. If there was a prize for the less-artistic design, this would certainly win it. The man, who had been standing in the doorway until now, entered completely, closing the door behind himself. As he explored the small space in the dim light, he noticed something he hadn't seen before. A small shelf with a single object on it; a vial with strange, honey-colored liquid in it. Deidara picked it up. He couldn't figure out what direction the light came from (there was only a huge, black sphere in the sky instead of the sun), but he held it over his head, shaking it and watching as small bubbles formed in the fluid. The thing slightly resembled those containers for eye medicine. He put the vial back on the shelf, not interested anymore. Then he decided to take a look at the other room. He opened the door, widening the beam of light in the completely dark space. There really was nothing aside from the grayish, dusty futon. But when the artist's eyes got used to the lack of light, they widened. A reddish-brown, drying stain decorated the floor made of some unknown, gray wood. Blood. And Deidara started to get scared. It was like one of those bad horror movies when a kid gets lost in an unkown world and after a long, paranoid trip where he always feels like someone's following him, he gets slaughtered down. The artist chuckled. He was already dead, so there was no danger.

He completely ignored the stain, now staring at the futon. It reminded him just how much he had already walked. Deidara yawned and quickly pondered: if someone found him here, it could only mean good, since he couldn't get killed; he had nothing to lose by sleeping in some stranger's ugly-ass house and letting his guard down. He pulled the blankets over him and fell into a deep sleep without dreams. He was so tired he didn't even notice that the sheets were still a bit warm.

Deidara's eyes opened when he heard the sliding sound of a door. The first thought coming to his mind was "Someone's here, I'm screwed!" A drop of sweat was dripping from his forehead and his heart beat faster (even though it should have stayed nice and quiet since the man was dead). He tried to calm down and remind himself that this was the afterworld, so he didn't need to be afraid. Fortunately, he had closed the door between the two rooms and the person (he could tell it was a human presence by the chakra) was still on the other side. He hadn't been spotted. Drawn by curiosity, the artist crawled towards the thin rice paper wall which divided him from the presence that could save him from his solitude. He moved the panel away, just a tiny bit, to inspect the person. A man with short, dark hair kneeled near the tea table, turning towards the front door, consequently showing his back to Deidara. He was panting heavily, like he had ran. The artist watched as he wiped away the sweat from his face (which he couldn't see) with the sleeve of his dark cloak. Since he was a sculptor, the blonde man could easily spot important details; that's why he noticed the symbol on the back of the stranger's clothing right away. It was also too bright-colored to pass unseen. But what intrigued Deidara deeply was the actual meaning of the the crest, picturing a fan with the upper part red and the lower part white. He couldn't believe what he had just seen: an Uchiha. Interesting... And there he thought that prick Itachi and his pathetic little brother he had killed with his masterpiece were the only ones left... He opened the door a little more to take a better look. The newly found member of the cursed family was still turning to the other side. Deidara first thought it could be Itachi with a new haircut, but the unknown man's build was different. He was more muscular (probably keener on taijutsu and ninjutsu) whereas the Weasel was slender and obviously a genjutsu-user. Deidara sighed. He was already analyzing him as his enemy; he apparently clung to his shinobi life even after death. Or maybe it was the guy's fault for being an Uchiha, those whom the blonde artist detested the most. But was it necessary to hold grudges even in Hell (or Heaven)? Either way, he didn't dare to just waltz out; it was still possible that this man was angrier at him than the contrary, considering that Deidara had killed the only successor of his family (even though he wasn't sure what to think after anoher Uchiha had suddenly popped out of nowhere). Then, he had to suppress the urge to facepalm. Of course, ANY Uchiha could be there, since that was the place where dead people went! He probably doesn't even know him.

Not having a second thought or a bad feeling about it, he stood up and walked out of his room; something he deeply, deeply regretted when he found himself held against a wall with two hands on his neck and a pair of mismatching eyes staring into his. Deidara couldn't speak, either because of the surprise or the stranger stifling him. Now he started to think that he went crazy instead of dying. The face he was forced to stare into wasn't especially ugly by itself, but half of it had odd furrows on it, somehow reminding of scars but still strangely-shaped. What was even more surprising were the sharingan in his right eye and the rinnegan in the left one. So, basically, this was an Uchiha bearing one of those horrible eyes Deidara hated more than any other bloodline limit, who also had the most powerful visual jutsu. The artist thanked his luck for not crossing paths with this fellow while he was alive; if he had, he was sure he would have died in a less-artistic way.

"What do we have here." an expression aiming to be a smirk crossed the half-ruined face of the owner of the house.

"Let go, un!" the blonde man finally managed to say, managing to pull the hands' hold a little wider.

"It is really you." the Uchiha finally let go and stepped backwards, letting Deidara fall on his knees coughing. What did that mean? That sounded just like that person knew him...

"How did you manage to get inside here?" he turned to the blonde artist again, with a death-glare.

"In-inside your house?" Deidara really couldn't say anything other than that. The chakra presence around him was so heavy it was hard to breathe.

"No. Inside my head."

"Your head? What?" the man on the floor furrowed his brows.

"You don't even know where you are?" he shaked his head. The dark haired stranger walked towards him again, leaning down slightly.

"Pathetic, I must say." Deidara's blue eyes widened. He had heard that somewhere before.

"Who are you?" the artist asked, regaining a bit of courage, constantly telling himself that his actions had, in fact, no consequences in this world.

"You don't even recognize me, Deidara? You intruded my inner world and you don't even recall who I am?" in the intense gaze of those terrific eyes, the smaller man started doubting himself and his memory.

"I've never seen your face before." Deidara stated. A dark chuckle came from the Uchiha who was still leaning down, supporting himself with a hand against the wall.

"Ah, right, you didn't, Senpai." said man just stared in front of himself, immobile like a statue. Life, no, death was mocking him. His lip trembled, not quite sure what he should feel right now.

"Yes, Deidara. I'm the one you mistreated during our partnership and the one you blew up along with yourself thinking an apology would be enough for killing someone."

"Are you dead too?" Deidara asked, finally able to force a sound out of his lips.

"Haha, you'd like that, wouldn't you? No, I'm alive, in fact." the man who turned out to be someone they called 'Tobi' back then, let out a small laughter, but there was no trace of happiness in it, just some dark, cruel amusement. The artist took this man as the proof that all Uchiha were the same. Nearly insane people who used their natural talent and power to the worst possible end and had no appreciation for art, nor other humans around them. The bestiality of either Itachi, Sasuke and Tobi utterly disgusted him. What spiritual depth did they all have? All they thought about was slaughtering, revenge and violence. Sure, his art was violent, too, but it had another reason to it. Well, if he put it like that, Tobi did also have his reasons to hold a grudge against him.

"I guess you'll never figure out where we are." the mentioned man said, bringing back Deidara's attention from his thoughts. He sat down by his small table in the meanwhile, motionless like everything else around.

"You said... This is your head, un."

"Known by the name of Tsukuyomi, indeed."

"I thought that was a genjutsu performed on other people with the..." there was no need to finish that sentence. Tobi didn't look at the other man once, a fact which Deidara was actually happy about.

"Since you're immortal right now and time works differently here, I guess I can take my time to explain. A regular genjutsu is an illusion, basically, but there are exceptions. The true power of the sharingan, which makes it one of the most dangerous eye techniques, is the Tsukuyomi itself. When the bearer of the Mangekyou sharingan casts the jutsu related to it, the victim is, in fact, transported into a different dimension temporarly, this explains the different sense of time, also. Every user has a Tsukuyomi of their own which reflects the subconscious of them. It's also reachable through meditation, something I have learned to do a long time ago. That's why your presence surprises me. Damn, if it were someone like Rin, I would even enjoy it, but why..." the blonde man saw his former partner making a pissed expression. He felt like a huge nuisance. Wait, why was that even a problem? Of course he'd be in the way in a world made for one person, he was now duplicating the population of Tobi's Tsukuyomi...

"Listen," Deidara started "I have no clue about how I ended up here. I only know I should be dead, and if this really is you subconscious, then I'm probably not the real me; just a replica in your head. So the only one who can explain all this, is you, Uchiha." the blonde stood up, pleased with the small speech he just made.

"You're not as stupid as your suicide technique, it seems." the dark haired man stated inconsiderately, still gazing at the wall at the other side instead of his conversating partner.

"Belittling my art like the other members of your family, huh? But I still killed mini-Itachi with it, un."

"You didn't" Deidara's face reddened with utter shock, having his provocation brushed off with that one, awful sentence. Was it possible that...?

"There's no way for him to dodge that attack. The explosion covered everything in a 10 km radius."

"He also travelled to another dimension with Orochimaru's jutsu, just to keep you updated with the news."

The bitterness and anger Deidara felt in that moment was beyond expression. He uncosciously started gritting his teeth, trying not to burst out in anger. His life was useless. His death was useless. And he was trapped forever in an Uchiha's inner world. He wanted to shout, to cry, to blow up everything around, including himself, and most of all, he wanted to kill this man, right now, since it was the only way to express the eternal hatred he had for every Uchiha who had ever lived on Earth. The smaller man jumped at the other, desperately punching, kicking, biting, scratching and tearing everything he could, which wasn't much, considering Tobi's strenght. Still, the anger unleashed some kind of brute force in him and in the end, he managed to claw at the unscarred part of his face, making a big, red bruise. After the struggle, the Uchiha succeeded to grab Deidara's wrists, who tried to stop him by biting him with his hand-mouths, and pinned him against the same wall as before.

"Stop dumping your problems on my family! Almost all of them were already dead when you even got to know us, and you don't even know who Itachi truly is! That superficiality... I cannot stand it!" but at the end of the phrase, Tobi let go of him once again. For a moment, he didn't look like the cruel, horrible man he was.

"The o-only thing I know about all of you damn Uchihas is your lack of respect. A-and beyond that point, I don't care who the hell you are, un." Deidara's voice was shaking and he didn't seemed completely convinced by the truthfullness of what he said.

"That's ironic, you just asked me who I was."

The blonde couldn't say anything, considering that Tobi was right.

"My name is Uchiha Obito." that didn't say much to the artist, who now slid down along the wall to sit on the floor and hold his face in both hands. He still couldn't believe what had happened. They stayed like that for minutes, like a still-life.

"Feeling meaningless, huh, Deidara? What are you going to do now? You can't even blow anything up without your clay. How powerless you are." said the man who turned out to be Obito, scratching his scalp lazily.

"What did I do to you to make this even worse?" the blonde man muttered from under the cover of his arms.

"Indeed, what? In the end it was nothing, but I knew exactly how much respect you had for me: none. What bothers me isn't merely the fact you would've killed me with your technique without hesitation, but that you did this while I was your partner. A powerful jutsu, the country, revenge, art... None of these are worth killing your comrade! Do you understand now?" Obito's explanation was long, but studdingly simple. So much, it woke a sense of guilt in Deidara to boot all the other negative feelings he was currently going through. A small tear formed in the artist's left eye, who immediately wiped it away, disgusted by his own reactions.

"Nevertheless, I cannot kill you now" the cruel Uchiha continued "You don't have any choice but stay here and coexist with me. I'll see what use I can put you to; I wonder if there's even any in a perfect world."

"I highly doubt the perfection of it..." Deidara commented below his breath. Obito didn't even react; he just stood up and entered the other room where the artist had been sleeping before and closed the door behind himself. The blonde waited a few seconds and sneaked out on tiptoe to the front door of the small building. When he finally got out, he started running the fastest he could, trying to get away from that devil of a man.


	3. Two

Deidara was running out of breath; he had been racing for what seemed like an hour and half to him and was probably just a split of second in Tsukuyomi. The wood was just as monotone as everything else; none of the black trees seemed alive and he hadn't met any animals either. It sure looked like the worst kind of nightmare, but the artist was almost twenty years old and had seen far worse in his real life than that. He preferred a thousand of those nightmares to the butchery he had to assist to at Iwa. The reason why he became a rouge ninja and a terrorist was mainly his ruined childhood. Konoha shinobi attacked Iwagakure constantly and vice versa. The people of Hidden Stone started killing each other out of panic after a while, accusing even their family members of being spies. Deidara's brother had killed their father for the same reason before committing suicide out of regret. The horrified boy who was 11 at the time, ran away from home. After that, the Explosion Corps became aware of his capacities and took him in. During his work with the team, however, he had always felt like something was missing: explosions only used for technical purposes were not the way he wanted to express his artistic tendencies. Deidara found no purpose in serving the village he despised, so later on he broke into the archives of the Explosion Corps and took two forbidden scrolls: the recipe of explosive clay and its supplement, the jutsu allowing to grow chakra-molding mouths on any part of the subject's body. Being a clever and talented nin, he performed the technique the same night, in a cave somewhere near Iwa. After that, he burnt both scrolls. Being a shinobi from the Hidden Stone, it took him no time to build a house, massive enough for him to be able to practice his art. He had only lived two years there, hidden from the war. Soon the Akatsuki paid him a visit; the one where he first met an Uchiha and started loathing them. He was forced to join the organization and was dragged away from his home where he had planned to spend his whole life.

Just thinking about his past made Deidara clench his fists. His village, other shinobi, the Akatsuki, the Uchiha... The whole world was conjuring against him! What did that damn, selfish bastard know? He had probably lived his life normally in his rich and arrogant family. True, Itachi had killed them all, but apparently, Obito was on the Weasel's side, so it couldn't be such a great problem for him... He must be the absolute worst of mankind.

But as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was interested. Why had that guy worn a mask and played stupid for such a long time? Who else knew about him? He may never find out. Deidara stopped running for a minute to regain stamina. That's how he spotted the only interesting thing in the woods since he escaped from Obito. Nearly 50 kilometers further, there was an open-air space where the trees didn't grow. The blonde man couldn't make out what it was from that distance, so he directed himself to the change of landscape. The closer he walked, the more discernible it was.

It was something like a crater with a diameter of 5 kilometers, but in the middle, a height with a flat top shadowed part of the pit. In fact, it was a huge, ring-shaped swale. But what intrigued Deidara was the actual color of it; the inner walls of the crater were white, unlike the greyish-brown ground he had seen so far. Curiosity brought him closer and closer, but he still couldn't figure out the explanation of the whiteness. He stopped at the edge of the pit. Since he didn't have anything else to do in mind, and this was the most decent place in Obito's "perfect" Tsukuyomi so far, the blonde artist decided to climb down and explore it a little more. The walls were sheer, so he soon figured out he would need chakra control. He closed his blue eyes and concetrated all his spiritual energy in his feet, then walked down until he reached the bottom of the pit. Deidara looked up at that crazy sky, with fast clouds and a black sun. He was almost twenty meters deep. But what interested him was the material of the walls. He touched the white substance with his fingertips. It was powdery, easily breakable and slightly wet... The blonde man grabbed a fistful of the white material and started fondling it with his hand, his mouths almost opening by themselves from the anticipation. No, that had to be a dream... It was clay! Identical to the one he had used in his life! A desperate, but sadistic smile appeared on Deidara's face, an expression he thought he would never make anymore. And also, there was a whole goddamn mine of it! With his hands shaking with excitement, he started molding chakra into the clay. The artist quickly ran up the perpendicular wall of the height in the middle of the pit, jumped up, and before he fell back on the ground, formed two C1's, throwing them on the platform. A bang followed by two twin explosions resounded in the pit.

"A beautiful piece of art, un!" Deidara smirked insanely.

The discovery of the clay mine made the man feel a little less hopeless. He tore away two stripes of cloth from the sleeves of his black cloak and folded them around a bunch of the white substance, making a small bag. He sat down under a tree close to the mine, resting pleasedly. His hands were still dirty from the clay, but that was a dirtiness he liked. But that reminded him... Did he even have any physical needs in this world? Would he get hungry or thirsty? Was there even water in Tsukuyomi? As long as he didn't feel it, it wouldn't bother the blonde, but as he thought about it, he started worrying. That wouldn't be a problem if he stayed with Obito, but that wasn't an option either. Anyway, he knew something for sure: he felt tired when he fell asleep in the house, even if there probably weren't such things as day and night in this world. Just like he felt tired now. Deidara yawned. It would take him a while to get used to this place. Once again, he collapsed, unable to move from exhaustion.

The dark haired Uchiha couldn't imagine how Deidara even thought of running away from him in his own head. Didn't he already tell him there was no other choice than staying with him? Obito's pace got faster. He couldn't quite explain why he was going after Deidara, when the other man was eventually going to come back to him. To make things faster? He had plenty of time in Tsukuyomi. He was also too used to human life. But living like in the real world was a mistake, in another dimension. Everything was different, so people who entered Tsukuyomi by meditating had to change their whole way of thinking while they were there. It wasn't a nice, heavenly place since its main use was torturing people, but Obito liked to think it was perfect. After all, the only difference between it and Eternal Tsukuyomi was the jutsu's scope, besides, everything was the way he imagined, everything except for... He slightly lowered his head. He couldn't take any living people to normal Tsukuyomi, nor bring back the dead. That's why the appearance of that annoying blonde brat bothered him to no end: suddenly, the two only laws of this dimension were broken at once. Sure, he had been lonely until then, but he had soon to discover that being around Deidara was far worse than being alone since the artist couldn't overcome his hatred for the Uchiha. As for Obito, he didn't get why the bomber was still particularly mad at Itachi. Sure, the Weasel had forced him to join Akatsuki with the sharingan, but it seemed to him that Deidara enjoyed his time in the organization after a while. And did Itachi really belittle the guy's art? He never said so. On contrary, he went to recruit the blonde because his explosions were a strong and useful power, and considering his young age (he was 17 when they had visited him) he might have even been a genius. There was nothing to complain about. Thinking about himself, Obito could even be a little jealous.

This was the basic reason why he couldn't understand the other man. But the fact he was there was undoable, and woke a small hint of a hope in the Uchiha. Maybe Deidara wasn't the only one who could come back from death to his Tsukuyomi. The memories flowing back became too strong to bear and Obito had to stop and fall on his knees, massaging his temples. He spent every single moment thinking about Rin, and he knew it was stupid, but he couldn't give up on her, even though she had been dead for almost twenty years. He felt himself becoming that young boy again and almost started weeping. But he couldn't cry anymore; he just couldn't. He stood up again, brushing the dust off his clothes. He quickly reminded himself who he had become. The evil bastard, the Akatsuki leader, the one who was going to reveal himself as the strongest shinobi, the future ten-tails jinchuuriki and the one abusing and breaking the only presence in his lonely inner world.

And there he found Deidara, curled up near a tree, so peaceful compared to when he had jumped him in anger. The smaller man moved a bit on the ground as the Uchiha stepped near him, looking down at that neutral, sleeping expression with his rinnegan and sharingan. There was also a small package next to him. Obito quietly moved to the artist's other side to take a better look at it. When he opened it, his brows furrowed. Clay? He looked around to see where he could have possibly obtained his sculpting material. The sight was so stunning, he wondered how hadn't he noticed before. He ran towards the enormous pit and ended up in the bottom with a single, chakra-filled jump. All the walls were covered with clay. It was rare for him to see an unknown place in his own Tsukuyomi. Even if he hadn't literally been everywhere, every forest, desert, canyon and mountain reminded him of something in his past life; they were all part of his subconscious after all. But a clay mine? He had never been in such a place... The fact that Deidara strangely found exactly what he was looking for had something not quite right about it, too. How could the bomber have any kind of power over his inner world?

Obito decided he would go back to the other man. He wasn't planning to interact with him in any way; what he wanted to do was spy on him a little. Maybe, just maybe, there was something he didn't know about. Some hidden jutsu or a scroll. He was a ninja after all, so he knew he should never underestimate his enemies. He quickly got back to normal ground level, but an unexpected explosion blocked his way. The Uchiha dodged it in the last second, but he fell and rolled over on the ground to do so. It was quite obvious who had just attacked him.

A certain blonde terrorist had to thank his fate again; he woke up just at the right time to throw a C1 at the muscular form approaching from the direction of the pit. Obito was pursuing him... What was his reason again? Of course, to mistreat and humiliate him. The evil man disappeared behind the flash of the explosion. Did Deidara manage to blow the Uchiha up? No, he didn't, he sighed disappointedly. He could spot the contours of the intact form behind the smoke.

"Are you having fun?" the dark haired man asked, his voice completely calm (he and Itachi were so alike, after all).

"You cannot imagine how much, un!" the blonde smirked confidently. With his weapon back, he wouldn't let Obito have his way anymore. Yet, the ruler of Tsukuyomi seemed pacific right now, so Deidara kept himself from tossing more bombs at him.

"The mine. Where does it come from?" the dark haired man asked when he stopped, keeping a comfortable, five meters distance from the artist.

"You should know better; I have no idea." he said, lifting his shoulders and his mouthed palms. After a few seconds of silence, Obito closed his eyes and said:

"You need to come with me, you have no clue about how things work here." the words just slipped out of his mouth. It was the most logical thing to do if he wanted to find out more about how exactly did the other man enter Tsukuyomi, but it still sounded strange, coming from him. And Deidara thought so, too.

"In your dreams, Uchiha! I might be just a replica of my real self in your head, but that doesn't mean I'll do whatever you say, un!" the artist's attitude indicated that the once-masked man needed to change his approach, and he had to do it fast. He stepped a little closer to Deidara, who immediately reacted by backing.

"All right. I won't hurt you anymore and I will treat you as my equal from now on. I'll give my word for that."

"Your promises are of no value, un."

"Then, let's make a deal." Obito said as he walked to the tree where the blonde had been sleeping earlier. He traced a line in the gray, dusty soil with his foot, starting from the black trunk.

"If you come now and answer my questions, everything past this line is your property, including the clay pit. You do whatever you want with it, I won't interfere in any way. Apparently, I created this place unintentionally, so it has no importance for me."

"Why do I have to answer your goddamned questions then? You wouldn't do anything with the mine anyway!" Deidara said, crossing his arms and tapping with his foot on the ground impatiently.

"Because, in order to keep the perfection of this world, I will destroy every useless thing." the taller man looked so proud, selfish and serious, it was hard for the artist to believe he had ever been Tobi, even if he'd been acting. Still, the tone of his voice was recognizable, and his build and smaller gestures were alike. If he could only keep on playing stupid! Even if the masked idiot was annoying, he was way better than this tirannic bastard.

"How is that a deal? Sounds like threatening to me, un!"

"Whatever, in the worst case, I would annihilate something created by me, that doesn't mean harm for you, right?" Deidara realized he couldn't have the upper hand here. This was the guy's own world. He ruled everything. There was no way for the bomber to compete with him; it actually surprised him what Obito said about treating him like an equal. Even if it was utterly impossible.


	4. Three

The boring, almost empty house which was left to dust for some time (one could never be sure how much it actually was, in Tsukuyomi) became crowded again when a nonchalant Obito and a hardly breathing Deidara entered. The artist had already realized that his body fatigued way more since he'd been in this dimension; that's why he felt sleepy so often. The walk back from the mine exhausted him, and when the taller man closed the front door behind them, he leaned against a wall panting.

"Care for some water?" the dark haired nin asked quietly while opening a drawer on a piece of furniture that hand't been there before. That was actually the first phrase said by Obito since they started walking. Seemingly, when he didn't have to put up the 'good boy' act, he was a silent person. The artist regretted every complaint he ever made about Tobi not shutting up. The silence gave him the chills, that man gave him the chills.

"I'm fine." the blonde answered after a minute of spacing out, oxygen finally reaching his lungs.

"You don't seem fine to me." the other man commented. He finally found what he was looking for in the drawer, so he closed it. He put a glass bottle full of water on the table and sat down before opening it and drinking a few sips. His pride made him refuse, but the bomber did watch that bottle with a bit of envy...

"Now, Deidara. Can we sit down and talk calmly about how you managed to visit me here?" Obito started after taking a breath with his elbows resting on the table and fingers entwined under his chin.

"If this is what you want to know, I'm going to disappoint you, Uchiha. I have no idea, un."

"Where exactly and how did you wake up?"

"A little further from here, in the desert. And I felt really knocked out and dizzy." the blonde artist rolled his eyes while sitting down at the opposite side of the tea table and answering the question.

"What's your last memory?"

"My death." he said with a rather quiet tone, not looking Obito in the eye. He inwardly cursed himself. He shouldn't feel guilty, damnit! The man in front of him stood up, walking towards the window to look out absently once again.

"You really are just a replica. What I wonder about is how you sneaked into my subconscious..."

Deidara couldn't react in any way. His brain, still working normally, assured him about his identity, but what if he only believed he was real and the Uchiha was right? As an artist, he thought a lot about philosophy, but the question of existence was something he rather wouldn't dig into. It always ended up bringing uncertainity and fear of death. His greatest technique was suicide, he couldn't be afraid to die!

"I suppose you cannot get out of Tsukuyomi since you would've left a long time ago, if you could, so I should technically be able to do whatever I want with you." Obito continued, Deidara snorting at the cockiness of his words.

"As long as I don't blow you up, un." in normal context that could come off as a joke. And, for the artist's surprise, the tyrant lifted slightly the corner of his mouth, like he had a minimal intention to smile or chuckle.

"Since you won't spill information, I'll tell you a little something about Itachi." the Uchiha said, going back to his usual attitude. Deidara's eyes instinctively widened with hatred. Even that name caused him goosebumps.

"He killed all the other members of our family in order to protect the Hokage. The Uchiha wanted to take Konoha over and he got an order to annihilate the clan. Actually, I was the one helping him." the blonde's breath hitched. No, there was no way for that to be true.

"What about his brother, un?"

"That's the surprising part. Sasuke-kun was the one he loved the most in the world, so he couldn't kill him. Instead, he decided to become his target in order to make him stronger. Makes sense, doesn't it?" Obito took a break here. An expression of shock replaced the one on the bomber's face before.

"That's what I said about you not knowing a damn about Uchiha."

"In the end, even someone like Itachi acted according to his bonds..." Deidara muttered silently.

"And I'm sure every man does so." the dark haired man added.

"I wonder about that. I hadn't had bonds since my mother."

"Believe me, nonexistent bonds are better than broken bonds."

Now the standstill of time was almost tangible. The silence was deafening and for the first time, Deidara experienced harmony in this world, like that man and him were sitting on two plates of a scale and they had just found out the way to stay in balance.

"Why do you say that? At least you have something to remember." the blonde said hesitantly after staying in silence, musing on the earlier conversation

"And it's painful. To boot, since this place changes according to my thoughts, I keep on seeing flashbacks everywhere."

"What do you mean?" Deidara blinked.

"Places and visions remind me of someone I've lost" the dark haired Uchiha never once looked at the artist who stared at his wide back all along. When Obito turned around, Deidara awkwardly acted like he was contemplating the 'spectacular' gray ceiling above his head.

"Well, we lose people, I guess you have to put up with it, un." the blonde was only trying to sympathize with him, but it only sounded nonchalant from his mouth, especially considering that he rarely had any bond in his life.

"Put up with it?" the taller man repeated quietly, but his voice was full of rage. His fist landed on the table, making the other recoil and wonder how the furniture piece didn't break.

"Put up with it?!" this time he shouted. Uh-oh, Deidara thought, sensitive spot.

"What do you know about losing someone important?!"

"I know well enough, Uchiha. Calm down." the bomber said, trying to sound cool instead of frightened, which he actually was.

But what came next was completely unpredictable. Deidara found himself laying on the floor in an instant, the other nin holding him down with a painfully tight grip. He was in complete panic, his limbs numb from the squeeze under Obito's hands. Even his mouth hands hung ajar, tongues sticking out.

"Wanna tell me about it, Deidara? So, who was that, the one you've lost? I hope it's not Sasori... is he?" the dark haired man held up his chin, letting go of his left wrist, to lock their gaze. His smile was mocking and malicious.

"G...get off of me, un!"

"Why, do you only like this kind of thing with him?" a single finger trailed down from Deidara's chin to his neck, then his chest. The artist shuddered in disgust and tried to free himself wiggling and pushing his attacker away with his free left hand. He failed, only getting himself more tangled up with the Uchiha who leaned down further.

"Let me go, you jerk! Let me go! Now!" Obito chuckled, making the blonde man's face red with humiliation and anger.

"It was just a blind guess, but you are blushing... Did you two really have that kind of relationship? That's kind of amusing" Deidara just couldn't bear to hear all those crazy assumptions any longer. Still, he couldn't do anything but speaking.

"We've never done anything weird! Never once! You're completely wrong, asshole!" the bomber couldn't figure out where he got the courage to yell all that in Obito's face, who apparently got knocked out by the shock. The dark haired nin's hold loosened but he stayed there, staring at the nothing in front of himself.

"I've let myself go again. Since I have always had to keep up the act strictly in the real world, I've used this place to express myself freely. I will try to avoid these incidents, but you'll have to watch your mouth." that arrogance made Deidara's blood boil. But this time, he knew the once-masked man lost his self-control. His past's a taboo, he noted to himself. He felt no need to say anything. He snatched his right hand away from the other's grip, standing up and brushing dust off of his black cloak.

"Where are you going?" a calmed down Obito asked, as he headed towards the front door.

"To my territory, un."

The forest on the other side of the clay mine resembled the one from before quite a lot, except it had some bigger rocks casually sprawled on the ground. Deidara wondered if he really was so bored he could notice such a small change... He decided he would explore everything past the line dividing him and Obito, but then again, it was the same as staying in one place since everything was alike. His wrists still had red marks on them ever since that 'incident' (as the Uchiha had named it). He was so hard to understand! He knew people often lost control because of pain, but he never thought it was that much... But something interrupted his train of thought. He felt a light patting on his ankle, something soft and bouncy.

"What the hell, damn Uchiha?!" he yelled, pissed, turning around, but there was no trace of said man. He looked down at his feet, trying to figure out if he was just hallucinating or there really was something. Well, there was. A small, round, lilac thing was climbing up his right leg. Deidara shook the creature off in shock. He thought there weren't any animals in Tsukuyomi... Looking around, he wondered how hadn't he noticed them before; there was a whole bunch of them scattered in the woods and their color also stood out in the middle of all the gray ground and black trees. The artist couldn't find the right word to describe them; they were round and fist-sized, with four ridiculously short legs and two black eyes which looked like holes. The animals moved around slowly on the ground and there were also some on the trees. Deidara hesitantly picked up one of them to examinate it better.

"I wonder if this means Obito's imagining small, purple... things." he bent down to return the creature to his habitat.

As more and more purple animals showed up, the blonde man ended up observing them while walking and not paying attention to anything else. And the first moment he remembered to look around, his jaw dropped. He almost had to close his eyes, all that color blinding him. Suddenly, a path in front of him had appeared out of nowhere, cornered with more trees at the two sides. But even though they were apparently the same, black, dead-looking trees he had seen everywhere, these had oranges on them. And not just a few; every tree was loaded with them, so much to cover the branches completely. Also, they seemed to be oddly shiny, like the light of the sun was hitting them, but then again, the one in this world was black. The orange-trees illuminated the road between them, which Deidara walked down with amazement. He was too curious to resist and stepped at the side of the path, picking a fruit from the closest tree. It had been long since he had last eaten... He started peeling it with the teeth of his hand mouth, but after the first piece of skin came off, he threw away the orange horrified. The inside was black. After making sure there was nothing creepy in the fruit (besides its color), he picked it up again from where he dropped it before, and peeled it completely. It turned out to be a completely ordinary orange, if it wasn't for the black inner part. The bomber took a section, staring at it mistrustfully. Oh, right, he couldn't die... He took it in his mouth. It tasted delicious, better than anything he had eaten while he was still alive. The artist was so eager to have more of it that he devoured the rest with his hand mouths. He decided he would take another one with him.

The road of the orange-trees was longer than expected. The more Deidara walked, the darker it became, and when he finally reached the end, after the last pair of trees, he surprisedly realized he was inside a cave. The blonde artist started wondering if he was just dreaming all this. It was kind of dark, but he could see where his steps led, thanks to the light emanating from the fruit in his hand. Somehow, this change of scenery seemed less reassuring than the boring woods. In a forest, you could flee in many directions if you happened meet something unexpected. In cave, there's just one way. And if it's blocked, there's no way to get out. Furthermore, if there was a cave, there should be at least a hill, but mostly a mountain out there. If the ceiling collapsed on Deidara, he would live forever, buried alive, which was far worse than dying. He could now sympathize with Hidan.

* * *

 **I apologize for the strangeness of this episode, it might read as an LSD-trip since I'm only writing down scenes as I imagine them. The downsides of being an airhead. Also, the screwed-up quotation marks make it abundantly clear which my previous account was, but whatever.**

 **16/07/30 Edit: Quotation marks fixed.**


	5. Four

Some fast steps lifted the dust on the ground, making it look like the footsteps were emanating smoke. It would be quicker with teleportation, Obito thought, too bad he couldn't use that kind of technique in this dimension. It's gonna take take an eternity to catch up to Deidara, but he had to stop him in any possible way; right after the artist had left, the Uchiha remembered about a place where he didn't want anyone to go, and since things changed their locations constantly in Tsukuyomi according to his mood, it was impossible to lock up that place. And if Deidara ended up there, Obito didn't even want to think about what he would do.

He ran past the mine, progressing in the woods. His belief about the other walking in a straight line was a mere guess based on logic; he couldn't quite decipher what was going on in Deidara's head. His concepts of life seemed simple, but since he apparently didn't have any reasons to fight, people to avenge or bonds to save, nothing made sense anymore. Obito started wondering if this was that so called 'art' he didn't understand a thing about.

After a long time of wandering in the darkness of the seemingly endless cave, Deidara finally noticed a light that wasn't the orange one of his fruit. It was a feeble green glowing coming from one of the side passageways; the lost artist couldn't see the source of it, but he decided he would.

When he stepped into the cavern, the sudden brightness almost blinded him. Deidara had to hold up his palms in front of his eyes to filter the incoming light with his fingers. Another stunning view hit him, the second one in Tsukuyomi already.

The cave was more or less round, and halfway to the middle, there stood something which seemed like an altar. A huge mass of green crystals towered over the construction, making it look smaller than it actually was. The transparent-green stones were the ones releasing the light he had seen before. But after examining them from closer, he noticed something. If he squinted, he could see faces in the precious stones. They didn't look like they were carved inside; Deidara could've bet that was the natural form of the crystals. The more he observed, the more the human faces became, and it didn't take him long to realize all the 'sculptures' represented the same person. The traits were female and young.

It would only be logical if Obito knew this person, the blonde thought. He shivered, thinking back at their last interaction. Wait, why was he always jumping into his mind? Maybe it was the fact that he was trapped in that jerk's head...

Well, even if the commander of Tsukuyomi was an asshole, this was beautiful. If he looked at the crystals from other perspectives, he saw more portraits of the girl, capturing every possible facial expression. This might be his woman, he thought. He had to admit, Obito had a nice taste. The girl, even in this form, was surrounded by an aura of innocence. She had a kind heart, Deidara was sure. Maybe that was the kind of person that Uchiha was compatible with. The opposite of him. That was probably also the reason why Obito couldn't stand him. Although, he didn't know why he started comparing himself to her.

What made him curious was the altar. It was plain and dull compared to the beauty surrounding it. The structure was made of stone and had nothing special about it. Deidara stepped closer, brushing a hand on the surface. It was slightly dusty. He closed his eyes, trying to figure out something, to understand the meaning of this piece of the great work of art. The blonde man jerked his hand back. He felt something wet against his fingertips, he was sure of it. A small scream left his lips as he opened his eyes. It was something bloody and moving, stabbed with a knife which pierced through the altar under it, pinning it there. Deidara slowly found out what it was. A heart. It appeared from nowhere, right under his hand. The organ was pulsating which made it even more shocking compared to the piece of meat it would soon become after it stopped beating.

Why he did what he did next, he couldn't explain himself. Drawn by that impertinent wish to know more about things, typical of his young age, he reached out to touch the heart again. After all, he was a man, and a ninja; he wouldn't be scared because of something that was plain disgusting and nothing more. He dirtied his hand with the blood as he stroke it, and he could feel the warmth and the beats fastening at his touch. Well, no surprise. Everything worked differently in his world and the artist was getting used to it.

Deidara's next action was the biggest stupidity of his afterlife and life. He grabbed the kunai and drew it out from the organ, probably wondering if it did something. It did.

Jumping from one tree to the other, Obito finally saw a mountain. The mountain more precisely, since it was the only one in Tsukuyomi for what he knew. He heard a crumble.

"Shit." he rushed at full speed now, ignoring everything in his way.

Deidara was panicking. How the ceiling started to collapse above his head, he didn't know. All he did was pull out the knife of that bloody heart which had appeared from nowhere, and now he was going to suffer a destiny a million times worse than death. Panic was taking him over. He didn't want this. Didn't want to spend the rest of his existence in pieces under a mass of rocks. And he's never been this afraid, not once in his life. And the worst thing was, the only one who could at least dig up his body would never do it.

Deidara desperately ran towards the tunnel where he came from, but he found himself in utter darkness since he had dropped the orange before. The fruit disappeared under a boulder along with some of the green crystals in the meanwhile.

Some smaller rocks hit him while he tried to find the exit of the cave. He felt his shoulder craking under one of them and he shouted and cursed in pain. The artist's mind was taken over by shock and he couldn't even see a thing. He tried to orientate himself by running his hands over the walls surrounding him. In some places, he had to get through icredibly tight passageways. If he could only have his clay... But unfortunately, he had left it at Obito's place when he rushed out last time. He cursed this unstable world, he cursed the Uchiha, but more than anything he cursed himself for being careless and drifted by his anger.

And there happened what shouldn't have. A huge piece of rock fell in the middle of the tunnel; his way was blocked. It was the end, he couldn't escape like this. Deidara's face became dull and hopeless. He felt miserable, swallowed whole by the mountain.

Then he felt something grab his arm.

"Wha-" he was cut off by a violent pull. He glanced down only to see it was a hand.

Whit a huge crack, rock tore apart on one of the walls, making a hole which lead to the outside. That was when Deidara passed out.

"Hey, wake up." someone was shaking Deidara's shoulder. Unfortunately, the joint was broken, making him yell in pain.

"Are you crazy?! That hurt, un!" Obito stared back with an impassive face. Realizing whom he had just scolded, the blonde man shut his mouth.

"I knew this would happen." the raven haired Uchiha sighed. They were on the flat hill in the middle of the clay mine. Deidara couldn't recall how they got there, but memories flashed back as he sat up. Right, he was trapped inside a collapsing cave, when someone dragged him out. Logically, that person could only be Obito, but it wasn't something that easy to believe.

"You knew what?" the artist hadn't caught up with the events yet.

"That you were going to enter the only place I didn't want you to."

Putting together two and two, a sense of guilt built up in Deidara. Maybe the place he accidentally destroyed was something dear to Obito.

"You traced the line, I stayed at my side." said the blonde, crossing his arms and wincing in pain again because of his shoulder.

"There's something I forgot to tell you. Everything is everywhere in Tsukuyomi, this is a constantly changing dimension."

"I thought the mine was fixed..."

"It is now, but it could disappear anytime."

Deidara decided to inspect his injury. He unbuttoned his cloak. He had a pair of pants underneath, but no shirt. His shoulder had acquired a lilac color and every movement caused him incredible pain.

"What happened?" Deidara couldn't believe he actually heard that question.

"A rock hit me, un."

"You were luckier than me." Obito said, pointing at the right side of his face. Wow. To be ironic, he had to chose the only moment when Deidara was in utter pain. He wasn't less of a jerk than before, the artist stated to himself.

"Someone taught me a medical jutsu, once..." the taller man said in a dreamy voice. Deidara glared at him like he was waiting for something.

"So? Are you going to use it?"

Obito blinked, but after some seconds he emerged from his thoughts and lent a hand towards the earlier mentioned joint.

"Let me see it."

A shiver ran through Deidara's torso as the large, cold hand touched his shoulder. He flinched in pain when the once-masked Uchiha reached the broken point. As he placed both hands on the injury, the typical green light of healing techniques started emanating from them. After a few seconds, Deidara couldn't even remember his shoulder had ever hurt.

"Thank you... I guess..."

"I'm sorry. The whole thing was my fault for not letting you know about that place." the Uchiha responded. The blond started wondering what was going on with the other man. Obito was an idiot, a jerk, a tyrant, overly-sensitive about his past and indifferent towards anything else, and he had abused him physically and mentally, to boot. Since when did he apologize? And why now, when what happened was clearly Deidara's fault?

"I did that mess, un. Blame it on me all you like."

"This is just my inner world, I could build it back if I wanted. It's just... That was a sanctuary for someone important."


	6. Five

**Thanks everyone for the positive feedback, I'm so moved by it even though it's just a few of you... I was literally on the verge of tears, it's like fandom-senpai has noticed me and shit. Also, a warning beforehand: after a while the updates won't be so fast anymore since I'll have to actually continue the story instead of remaking earlier chapters.**

 **Also, this chapter is just a flashback.**

* * *

There was a nice weather almost all the time, in Konoha. All seasons were warm and sunny except for winter. Warm sunlight hit the houses and the nearby forest almost all the year.

That afternoon it was warmer than ever, but that couldn't change the mood of a lonely Obito walking home with a bag on his back. He was having a bad day. One of those times when even the sun felt as if it was mocking him with its annoying light. His grumpiness was due to the misfortunes happened earlier. He forgot to bring his dango with him to the Academy and had been starving for the whole day. The Sensei called him on the interrogation and he asked the boy the only thing he hadn't studied (he could bet he saw Kakashi smirking under his mask). And to boot, Rin had ignored him all the time. Thinking about the girl could either make him euphoric or sulk. Sometimes he wondered if his love would ever notice him. He tried so hard, but whatever he did, Rin seemed more interested in Kakashi.

"Of course, because girls prefer geniuses, right?" Obito mumbled to himself. He kicked a rock which rebounded from a metal trash can and hit the middle of is forehead.

"You're just in time for dinner." a woman with long, dark hair said when he entered their house, tossing his backpack next to the staircase. The young Uchiha ran across the hall to sit down beside the table in the dining room. His grandmother's housemaid, the woman from before, poured some soup in a bowl she placed in front of him.

"What are you waiting for? Eat, Obito!"

"What about Grandma?" the boy asked.

"The two of us have already eaten, but don't worry, I reheated your food." sadness glinted up in the raven's eyes. He wished he could eat with the only person who constituted his family sometimes. His grandmother was frequently ill due to her old age. He really wanted to help her, but the doctor often sent him off with the excuse of the old lady needing sleep. As a result, the boy had been feeling awfully lonely as of late and his scarce results in the Ninja Academy probably weren't making his grandmother proud either.

After the meal, Obito sat on the terrace of their house, gazing at all the people doing their work in the Uchiha family mansion. Maybe he should be somewhere else right now, maybe this wasn't the right place for him. He wanted to slap himself for being overly sentimental all the time (the crying was the worst.), but no one could deny that his life sucked. Why was Kakashi getting everything, and why was he left nothing? Could fate be this unfair? In the heat of the moment, he made a decision. He would confess to Rin today, no more running away!

Obito ran all the way to the girl's house which was a few streets from his. When he arrived at the door, he quickly combed through his hair and pulled up his goggles. But the moment he rung the bell, he regret everything. How could he be this foolish? Now Rin could make fun of him, or even worse, tell him how miserable and dumb she thought he was, compared to Kakashi. He crossed his fingers and hoped there was the girl's mother or father on the other side of the door and not Rin herself. Instead, his eyes met those kind, chestnut-colored ones which made him go red and spout nonsense phrases.

"Hi, Obito." Rin smiled, making her visitor want to run away.

"Ah... Rin! I just wanted to tell you something... Well..." all the blood in Obito's body went to his cheeks.

"Tell me what?"

"I... Just... I kind of forgot..." the brown haired girl chuckled and answered:

"You can come inside until you remember!"

The Uchiha-boy tried not to concentrate on her, while his brain was working like crazy to quickly find some excuse to ask Rin something. He sat down on the couch in the living room while the love of his life went to the kitchen, probably to grab some tea or snacks. The house was way smaller than the boy's and completely different. The furniture was more modern, while the Uchihas, who were great lovers of traditions, used ancient pieces. Even if the place was poorer, Obito felt more life running through it than his own home. Rin had a warm and close family who understood her and made her into the kind little angel she was.

"Have you remembered yet?" the girl snapped him out of his thoughts, coming in with a plate full of mochi rice cakes.

"I have something I didn't understand at school today and I wondered if you could... Um..."

"I can help you, of course!" Rin smiled and waved the boy to follow her in her room. At least his stupidity had been useful once, Obito thought.

Talking with Rin was embarrassing and awkward for the boy. They hardly conversated outside school (not that they talked a lot inside, either), so love and panic took over his brain. He was so careful not to screw up anything that he couldn't pay attention to what she was explaining to him.

"Obito..."

"AH! Yes?" he cussed, realizing his thoughts had been wandering.

"Are you okay? You're spacing out..."

"I... Just..." the Uchiha's black sheep couldn't decide what to say. But at last, he ended up honestly saying what he thought, like always.

"I feel so lame. Kakashi's always better at everything, I can't even compare to him. And my family, too, hates me for what I am. I'm like the most useless person in the world." his tone remained quiet, even though the rage towards his classmate in it.

"That's not true, Obito! I'm sure your grandmother loves you very much! And besides, everyone has their own weak points, even Kakashi-kun does..." the only thing the boy could comprehend was that Rin blushed while saying that name.

"Yeah, that's right, but what if I have nothing but weak points?!" the raven haired boy felt tears dwell up in his eyes. Crap. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"Don't cry, Obito... You must have something you're good at..."

"I-i'm not crying. It's the dust." he quickly came up with the standard response he had for the matter.

The next few hours went a little better. After the Uchiha had calmed down a little, they kept on studying, and when he finally understood everything, Rin went out for a minute to make some tea.

Obito, in the meanwhile, took his time to examinate his love's room. It was neat and tidy, just like he had expected. Her library was full with books about legends, ninja history and healing techniques. But when he took one of them, he saw an object strategically placed behind the pile of books. It was a diary, wrapped in a black piece of cloth. Turning his back to the door to lessen the possibilities of getting caught, he opened it at a random page and started reading.

 _Dear diary!_

 _I've learned a new jutsu today! Yay! Maybe I can use it on Kakashi-kun to save him some day... I hope he doesn't even get injured, though. I tried to comb my hair like Hamuri told me, she said I looked a thousand times better like that. She also said Obito's been staring at me for the whole lesson, but I don't believe her. He doesn't even know me... I hope Kakashi-kun noticed the difference, anyway._

 _Dear diary!_

 _Today Sensei explained what the chuunin exam is about. The part where you have to collect scrolls seems pretty scary... Becoming a genin must be easy, but I'm afraid I won't make it to the next rank. I could never kill anyone, let alone someone from the village whom I know! Sensei also said it depends a lot on your group. I'm really curious about who are gonna be my teammates. I hope they put me in the same group as Kakashi-kun!_

 _Dear diary!_

 _There was a fight in class today. I was a bit late, so I showed up in the middle of it, but from what they told me, Obito challenged Kakashi-kun to something and then said he cheated, so they started beating up each other in the middle of the classroom. Kakashi-kun won, of course! I was a bit worried though, I must admit. Kakashi-kun's shorter and thinner than Obito, so I thought he could lose, but he didn't, fortunately. Kakashi-kun is so strong! I wonder if there's any girl he likes..._

 _Dear diary!_

 _I really don't know what to do... I THINK I LIKE KAKASHI-KUN! I really want to help him because he always looks lonely, so I try to talk to him whenever I can, but it's too awkward and I can't even say a word when I'm standing in front of him! My heart beats like crazy whenever I see him and I suddenly feel uncomfortable and wonder if I should have dressed differently to look cuter. I feel like I'm invisible to him, no matter what I do. He always acts so cool and collected, but he's so distant!_

Those words stung, they stung so bad. Obito closed the diary, trying to convince himself that what he read was just an illusion, a nasty genjutsu cast on him. Rin liked Kakashi. It was written down. No one could change it. What hurt the most was that what she felt towards that Hatake-jerk was exactly the same as what Obito felt towards her. He was so adsorbed in that bitter writing, that he didn't notice Rin's pale face in the door. Crap.

"Obito...Wh-what are you reading?" she whispered, self-consciously.

"Rin... I..." the girl snatched the diary away from him in panic before he could finish his sentence. She didn't say anything, instead, he gazed at Obito with embarrassment and delusion.

"T-thanks for everything!" the boy grabbed his bag and rushed out of the building, running away cowardly once again.

The young Uchiha sat on the stairs of his terrace, shamelessly weeping as the sun went down behind the hills. He ruined everything. Now Rin would hate him forever. A siamese cat walked through the yard, stopping before Obito and sitting down. Blue eyes met the boy's reddened ones. Maybe, if it could speak, it would tell him what an idiot he was. If he hadn't opened that damn diary, he could be even closer to Rin now. But no, he had to be curious and stupid enough to do it... Wanting to distract himself, he caressed the cat, scratching slightly behind its ears. The animal purred after continuing his earlier route, leaving Obito behind.


	7. Six

**Guys. Thank you for the reviews. Seriously. Just... thank you. It feels all tingly-dingly inside.**

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Obito took a break after he had finished to tell his story.

"I swore that I would love Rin forever, and decided to keep that promise even after she died. You wanted to hear something about me and here it is."

"My sympathy, un." it wasn't the most breathtaking feedback Deidara could give, but it was still the kindest thing he had said to Obito so far. They still sat on the hill in the middle of the mine since the cave-incident. Even if his injury was healed, the blonde felt too weak to walk to the other man's house. The Uchiha had offered to carry him, obviously getting refused.

It was still not clear to Deidara, how they came to tell each other childhood stories while he healed. He remembered asking who was Obito's Mysterious Person, and the guy explained it with a bunch of slice-of-life little stories about him and his team. The artist had to admit, he made a good guess earlier, in the cave. From the description, Rin came off as pure and innocent. Of course, she might have had bad sides too (which Obito wouldn't have noticed anyway), but let's face it: people don't really have the time to do anything wrong if they die as teenagers.

Deidara found himself gazing at Obito's ruined face. He had already heard about what happened to him; what he missed was knowing how exactly the other _felt_ while it happened. He was missing out on the whole emotional spectrum of the issue. Yes, they were telling each other about themselves, but their interaction was distant, like they were just sharing information. And it built up an odd kind of frustration in Deidara.

"It must have been hard for you to leave everything behind." Deidara commented, making the taller man turn his head to him.

"Oh no, it wasn't. After I saw Rin die, I stopped caring about anything but my plan." Obito answered. His face didn't show any kind of emotion, confirming what he said.

"Your plan?" the blonde furrowed his brows.

"That only concerns the outside world, it's a topic I'd rather not speak about."

"Oh, right." to avoid situations like the one before, Deidara was very careful not to insist on sensitive spots when he talked to the Uchiha.

"Now that you mention it, I think I've met that Kakashi, un."

"Ah, really? How's he?" Obito asked with an extremely annoyed tone.

"I didn't exactly ask him; I fought the guy, he's the copy nin, right? In my life, I've always wondered why he had a sharingan, un."

"Could you defeat him?"

"I barely got away. He cut my only remaining arm off with another eye jutsu of you damn Uchihas." Deidara fisted his hands, still feeling rage towards said ninja. And for some unknown reason, the raven haired man's forehead wrinkled too in anger.

"Everything makes sense then." Obito sighed. "Remember when I went to collect your arms with Zetsu? The one near the place where you were hiding wasn't there before; I accidentally found it laying around in Tsukuyomi when I went to meditation state before. When I take an object back from here, sometimes, it ends up somewhere else." Deidara huffed a little, hearing 'Tobi' had made a fool out of him that time.

"So you're saying..."

"Yes. Since Kakashi's left eye is technically mine, he can transport anything to this world with his jutsu."

Deidara wrapped his arms around his knees, wondering if he should know or remember something more. Then something struck him.

"How did you bring my arm back to the real world, un?"

"It has its own ways..." Obito closed his eyes; Deidara noticed he did it every time he had to recall something complex.

"Would it work with people, too?" the blonde asked hopefully.

"I cannot tell you that. It goes easily with objects; I only have to grab what I want to transport while I go back or just use kamui, which is rather risky. But it's different with a human with a soul." the artist's eyes which had glimmered with enthusiasm a few seconds before they returned to being dull. He lowered his head in disappointment.

"Anyway," Obito added ,,You're nothing but a replica of your real self. You might disappear if I try to take you back."

Deidara stared at the colorless ground for a while. He forced himself to find the best words to what he had to say, with the raven haired Uchiha waiting for a reaction. He collected himself and said it with one breath.

"But you wouldn't mind that, would you?"

"Mind what?"

"Making me disappear. I'm ruining the balance of your 'beautiful world', un!" he said those two words with a strong sarcasm. Obito stared blankly, with an undeciphrable face.

"It's not like it changed a lot from when you appeared..." he muttered under his breath.

Deidara couldn't tell why, but his blood was boiling. Maybe it was the standstillness of everything, maybe the complete lack of emotions; anything it was, it made him mad. He was a person who carved anger and violence since his childhood and it became hard for him to live without it. He had to let it out somehow, and an Uchiha was the best occasion to do it.

"How nice of you, acknowledging my presence that much! I'd like to remind you that if I'm a replica, the fact that I'm here is your doing! What the hell do you want from me, even after my death? Do you hate me so much that you want to torture me for all eternity? Or are you mad because I'm the first person who hates your people instead of seeing them as almighty gods just because of some eye jutsu?" Obito was a little struck as the smaller man stood up in the process of shoving his hatred in his face.

"Deidara. I'm not mad and I don't hate you." he sighed.

"Oh, really? You don't hate me?" the blonde artist let out a small laughter. "That's a pity, because I hate you. And you disgust me, your oh-I-am-so-almighty attitude disgusts me, your coolness disgusts me, I hate everything about you! You can do whatever you want to shut me up, but I will talk as long as I can...!" the dark haired man's muscular form sat exactly as before, not moving by an inch. Deidara's words echoed in the mine's round form, the sound of them reflecting from every direction. But Obito didn't utter a word.

"Why don't you say anything?! Damn you, un!" the blonde resembled more a hysterical child right now. He charged, preparing a fist to punch the other violently right in the scarred part of his face. The attacked hopped up and grabbed his wrist in the last moment.

"You seem to have healed." he stated, Deidara trying to hit him with his other hand, which got blocked in turn.

"Now listen..."

"I don't care, I don't care about anything you sa-"

"DEIDARA. Listen to me." said blonde tried his best to escape, but Obito's strenght was too great for that.

"After musing on it, I decided to forgive you, either for almost killing me and destroying Rin's sanctuary. I don't see a reason why you could be mad at me."

"Do you want a reason?" Deidara grunted in a low tone. "There it is. Your right eye is the reason."

"Should I tear it out?" Obito asked almost nonchalantly. Blue eyes widened.

"W-what?"

"Would it make any difference for you if I got rid of my sharingan? Or do you want the rinnegan to get the same fate? Should I stumble around blind, completely unarmed, so that you can destroy me in whatever way you want?"

"What are y-you aiming at?" the blonde's voice was trembling, both his hands caught in the Uchiha's.

"I'm trying to prove to you that it wouldn't make any difference. You wouldn't stop hating me, even if I was weaker than you."

"That might be right." Deidara scowled.

"So what should I do to make you stop?"

"Since when do you even care?!" the artist shouted angrily.

"I don't know why, but I do!" Obito responded, unconsciously raising his voice "Since I've found you, I haven't gone back to the human world. You make this place look like... there's actually something here. I've never been here for so long." the smaller man seemed calmer now, even a little ashamed for his reactions earlier. Suddenly, he felt a lancinating pain in his head and winced, almost falling off the cliff while stumbling.

"I'm carrying you now, want it or not." Obito stated, letting go of his wrists and stepping in front of him.

"Don't think... Cough... about giving me a piggyback-ride!" Deidara grunted, coping with his urge to collapse. The dark haired Uchiha ignored the complaints and picked him up. The weakened blonde wrapped his arms around his neck in order not to fall down. With a few jumps, they were in the forest leading to the house.

While he brought him home, Obito became aware of Deidara's growing body temperature. When they arrived, the artist already had a fever. Stepping inside the house, grey walls and dull light awaited them. Not wasting time, the raven put the other man down on the futon and went out in the other room, returning with a bottle of water after a few seconds.

Deidara was red and sweating, unconscious as thought he was sleeping. Sometimes he hissed or moaned out. The whole display was worrying Obito; he still couldn't explain why, though. While chasing after the blonde, he had time to think. Deidara wasn't a pathetic being and it was his mistake to treat him as such. He also wasn't what the Uchiha would define a 'boring person'. The misunderstanding between them until then was probably due to their reciprocal ignorance of their points of view. Apparently, an artist couldn't think like an cynic and vice versa. Or could Obito change that? This curiosity was the reason he was now curing the sick blonde, and yes, even caring about him.

"Nh..." another febrile sound left Deidara's mouth. His state only got worse until their arrival. Obito was now trying to give the ill man water for the fourth time, but he kept on spitting it out. He had even tried with the hand mouths, but it didn't change anything.

"Shit." he cussed. His once gloved hand went to Deidara's forehead, controlling his temperature once again. He was so hot Obito felt he might burn his hand. But the moaning and sweating seemed to get lighter in that instant. The blonde slowly opened his eyes, meeting mismatching ones filled with anxiety.

"What's going on, un?"

"Don't move. Drink some water." now that he was awake, the dark haired man could finally keep his only company from drying up.

"Your hand's... cold..." Deidara muttered, still not completely awake.

"Sorry!" Obito quickly removed said limb which he had left on the other's head awkwardly.

"No, it felt good... Kept me cool, un..." he said, closing his eyes again. Hesitantly, the taller man reached out to Deidara's face again, only caressing it this time. He flinched, horrified with his own actions. What the hell was that? Aside from everything, that gesture looked very gay... Not that Obito was one to care about that kind of thing; everyone deserved love and avenging their loved ones, same or different sex they were. But he loved Rin. He didn't even dare to admit what exactly made him doubt that, but he knew oh, so well. He hadn't had any interest in anyone asides from his eternal love in his life. Other people were objects to him. He was now starting to realize how cruelly he had lived, despising the rest of the world for Rin's death. When someone bothered him or got in the way of his plans, his first reaction was either killing them or torturing them, in case he could get informations out of them. He was too busy to be interested in sex with the enormous amounts of work the Akatsuki required and the general aura of distrust in the world towards him, being a rogue nin who constantly wore a mask.

Since he also did many things which bothered Obito, he got the urge to just kill off Deidara many times, too. But he couldn't do it anymore, even if he had to.

Because the artist had a personality he was interested in now, so he couldn't see him as an object. The moment he cast a lethal jutsu on him, he would remember his sick love for art and explosions, his hatred for Uchihas, his sentences ending with 'un', his hand-mouths, everything.

Deidara coughed, as if he felt Obito's thoughts directed at him. Snapping out of it, the dark haired man remembered what the other had said earlier and placed his hand on his cheek. He wondered what would happen if it went lower... Would Deidara even notice, or was he too knocked out? He could check this way... Yes, that was only checking. Obito's fingertips moved slowly to the creamy neck of the other man. He suddenly wanted to know what it smelled or tasted like, and he already felt depraved. Seeing the other keeping on his slumber peacefully, he lowered his palm on his chest, above his heart. It was beating, even though Deidara was dead. Of course, he was a replica, he needed to remember that. The Uchiha closed his eyes, concetrating on the sound. He wished it wasn't fake. He wished he really had someone beside him after all of those years of not loving anyone in the world of the living.


	8. Seven

**Once again, I'm really happy about the reviews, thanks everyone. I need to get into a brief ramble before this chapter, so if you can't bear with me, skip the bolded part.**

 **I had to do some major editing on this chapter and the reason was a common 'sin' yaoi fanfiction writers commit, ie. making one of the characters work like a female. Don't. Do. That. These are men, _grown men_ in most cases. There are demonstrable differences in how women and men think. I know you all relate to the characters, that's understandable. I do too. But please take this into account to stay a little bit more in-character. Thank you.**

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Deidara felt horrible. Period. He tried hard to concentrate on other things beside his fever, but the occasional pain and the uncomfortable sense of boiling distracted him when he tried to picture new clay statues in his head. Actually, he had never been this sick in his life. Sometimes, he would catch a cold after a rainy night, but nothing more. He only had a fever once, when he was a kid, while his family was still sane, together and there to care for him. But after the war, his immunity system got stronger, as if his body understood by itself that any illness would be lethal for a 17-year-old who lived alone, isolated from everyone. But he had never felt this bad.

That explained why he was infinitely grateful to anyone who put that freezing cold hand on his forehead. The individual had said something, but Deidara couldn't remember what. He answered what seemed right in that moment, but he wasn't thinking while he did it. When the hand moved away, and the artist started feeling the pain from before, he demanded it back. The fingertips were cold and firm, pressing just lightly enough not to hurt. After some hesitation, they went to his torso, and somehow, the lower they touched, the better it felt. The palm of the mysterious hand was pressed to his heart. The artist could also feel the heartbeats of the other, as though they were linked together. He fell asleep completely despite the strange situation.

Deidara was standing on the top of a hill, gazing at the awesome display of the green forests and fields with small villages sprawled around. It was a beautiful day, and the sunligh was so bright it almost blinded him. His black cloak decorated with red clouds floated in the slight wind that was blowing, revealing pieces of the clothes he wore under it; his blue fishnet shirt, blue pants and his bags where he carried his clay.

"Time to go, Senpai!" a familiar voice said behind him. Deidara couldn't help but smile at Tobi when he turned around.

"Have you rested enough, un?" he asked. He remembered they had stopped before so that his partner could take a break.

"Hai! We can start walking!"

Even if the masked nin wasn't really helpful and bothered the blonde with his nonsense talk sometimes, Deidara valued him as a subordinate. Tobi was loyal and could always perform teamwork, at his own level. He didn't have it as bad as he thought.

"Tobi, un!" he turned to the taller man while they continued their journey towards who knows which tailed beast.

"What is it, Senpai? Want me to carry your clay pouches?"

"No, I just wanted to ask..." Deidara hadn't formulated the question yet, so he had to muse on it for a little.

"Was it better when you were with Zetsu?"

"Uhhh..." Tobi lifted his gloved hand to where his mouth was supposed to be to think about the answer.

"It's much better with Deidara-senpai. Zetsu-san was creepy..."

"I see..." the artist smiled. "I'm glad."

"Haha, I'm the one who's glad to be with Senpai!" the dark haired nin added.

"Why do you say that, un?"

,,Because Tobi really-really-really loves Senpai. I'm lucky to be your partner."

Deidara blushed. What kind of love could that be, exactly?

"You mean you care for me as a friend or a subordinate, right?" he asked. His eyes widened as the masked man stopped and held up his chin with his fingers.

"Not just that, Tobi wants to hug Senpai, and kiss Senpai, and see Senpai naked billions of times and do embarrassing things to Senpai, but Tobi wouldn't do that if Senpai didn't want to because Tobi is a good boy!" Deidara nearly fainted at that. When he regained his complete consciousness after a few seconds, he patted the other's head, trying to seem confident (the whole scene looked really weird since Tobi was taller than him). He felt as awkward as ever.

"Don't get carried away, kid! Keep that in your fantasies!" Tobi crossed his arms, probably pouting under his mask.

"Uff, Deidara-senpai... I think you're not taking me seriously!"

"How could I? You're so cute, hahahaha!" the blonde chuckled, caressing his partner's back a little. He couldn't help but ask himself why the hell was Tobi so hard and muscular, being a dumbass who had probably never done any kind of workout... He almost sank into the ground at how inappropriate that sounded.

The next time he could think, Tobi was already kissing him. It totally caught Deidara off his guard, making his eyes widen with surprise. He tried to free himself and ask the masked man what exactly was he thinking, but the other was stronger than him. When the kiss was cut off by their lack of air, their mouths parted. Deidara was about to say something...

"Wake up."

"What?"

"Wake up, Deidara"

The blonde sat up by reflex when his eyes opened. He was panting heavily and sweating from every pore of his body, the feeling of hotness bothering him again. He was shirtless, sitting on a futon in some horribly gray room, partially under the blanket.

"True, there's no such thing as time here..." he heard a voice behind a rice-paper door. Obito entered with a teapot and two cups on a tray.

"...But you've slept too much." he finished his sentence. The dark haired man kneeled beside the futon, laying the tray on the floor.

"I've dreamt something horrible, un." Deidara muttered.

"How do you feel?" Obito said while his mismatching eyes roamed over the sick blonde.

"Better, but I'm still too hot." the once masked nin reached out to his face, but he leaned away with a somewhat horrified expression.

"Don't touch me so casually, un!" Deidara was probably trying to yell, nevertheless, his voice was too weak yet.

"I told you you could trust me." Obito said, not understanding what he did wrong.

"Aside from the fact that it could be a lie, I don't want the hands of some random other man all over me, okay?" the artist yelled, pointing a finger at his former partner accusingly. The Uchiha felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. Deidara was straight. Well, he also was. He loved Rin. And Deidara loved some other girl, probably. However, those were girls they probably weren't going to meet anytime soon. It was just the two of them, for the eternity, if Obito decided to stay for that much. This made him question himself why hadn't he left yet. Even if these counted as splits of seconds in the real world, he had a plan to accomplish. To revive Rin. To complete his existence. So why did he feel like staying?

To get back to the point, Deidara apparently 'didn't want the hands of some random other man all over him'. Was Obito really 'some random other man'?

"But you had Sasori's hands all over you, didn't you?" he said out loud. According to the bomber, those were just rumors, but something in the Uchiha told him they were true... He earned a punch on the left side of his face.

"You piece of shit..." Deidara gritted his teeth in anger. The blow Obito got wasn't hard since he was still weakened, but his pride hurt.

"I've already told you it wasn't true! And my love life is my business, so stay the hell out of it, un!" the taller man could tell, the other was really mad.

"Next time I'll stay quiet and just think about it." he said, rubbing his aching cheek. But apparently, that wasn't a satisfying answer for Deidara.

"Can you explain why are you so stuck on this subject? We all know the rumours about Akatsuki partners being together are usually fake! What makes you think we did that kind of stuff with Danna? He's a puppet, a child-puppet, to boot! Why should I be attracted to that kind of man?"

"Wait, you're attracted to men?" Obito asked, immediately finding the important part of the phrase.

"Shit, un." Deidara grunted, facepalming.

"Now, this is something interesting."

"I dare you to bring up the subject again and I'll blow you up, un!" the blonde threatened the other man, crossing his arms.

"You can blow me up all you want, I'm not going to die anyway. But... How does it feel?" Obito said in his usual calm tone, spiced up with a bit of curiosity, this time. In the meanwhile, he poured some tea in both cups (more objects with an origin Deidara couldn't figure out).

"How does what feel?"

"To like... guys. In the ninja world, I guess you usually have a rough relationship with other men." It was so amusing to lecture Obito about something that the blonde artist gave in and decided he would trust him with his personal issues.

"You just have to find the right ones. It's not different from girls. You like a person, you flirt with them and sleep with them, that's all. It's harder, because many times the other guy's straight."

"So, basically, there's a higher chance that you'll love a person who doesn't love you back." Obito said, a little lost in his thoughts about who knows what. Deidara nodded.

"Have you ever been in love with such a person?" the bomber sighed, looking away.

"It happens sometimes, un."

"Yeah, I think I know that feeling."

They sat in silence, not even looking at each other. They were both thinking about something that happened a long time ago. After a while, the Uchiha spoke.

"The right choice would be to give everyone a chance."

"That's also true in any other aspect of life, but I guess it's obvious, un." Obito could even say Deidara smiled a little, finally looking him in the eyes.

"I wouldn't take it for granted." he answered, finally taking a sip from the tea.

"Huh?"

"You didn't give _me_ a chance." Deidara almost spit out his own drink.

"Why are you coming out of the blue with this, un?"

"You ran away from me two times already. Even if you know I can't hurt you."

"Hey hey hey! It's true that I'm immortal, but that doesn't mean I don't feel pain!" the blonde yelled, a little confused.

"It's not my lack of strength, rather my lack of... will." Obito said, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead.

"You're saying... you don't want to hurt me?" the smaller man's blue eyes widened slightly, shining with curiosity. The dark haired nin lingered on them along with his long, blonde hair and pink lips, Deidara's sole features outshining the black sun in the red sky out there. It was too much light even for his eyes to bear.

"Don't give me that bullshit, un." Deidara said. Obito was still too stunned to be disilluded. He shook his head. What had gotten into him?

"Why don't you believe it?"

"You've already hurt me, that's why. How can I be sure it's not going to happen again?"

The Uchiha stood up.

"You know what, Deidara? Blow me up. Turn me into art. I'll let you do it, so maybe you'll realize something."

"E-excuse me?"

"You're healed, aren't you? We're going to the mine now, so you can throw bombs at me." Obito lent the blonde his cloak while already walking towards the front door.

"You're either a masochist or insane." Deidara muttered under his breath; he couldn't have any complaints now. He took the clothing piece and slipped into it, covering his torso comfortably again. They left the house not running, but walking at a quick pace.

The shadows of the black branches were cast on them as if they were moving along with the two men as they strode through monotone woods. Halfway there, Deidara hesitantly asked:

"Hey, Uchiha... Aren't you going to split in a thousand pieces?"

"It's true that my real form wouldn't feel pain, but we're in a dimension with a different set of physical laws. The only reactions my body can carry out are those which come natural in the normal world in the situations I get into. To simplify, I _know_ I'm supposed to feel pain while being blown up, so I _will_ feel pain, even though the physical harm doesn't come with it." his voice didn't sound as calm as usually, like a sick anticipation fuelled his mind. It was similar to what he always felt before blowing something up, Deidara thought. They finally arrived, Obito ending up from the edge of the cliff right on the hill in the middle with a jump. The bomber went inside the pit in the meantime, gathering some clay and forming the right jutsu. He came out again, to where he's been before and took a breath.

First of all, he created a bird and flew up with it. The next minutes were a sequence of explosions brighter than fireworks and louder than a crumbling mountain. The artist tested out again all of his creations, smirking sadistically at every pained hiss after the booms. Smaller insects and bigger animals exploded one by one, trying to destroy the fortress of Obito's body. All his pent up anger and frustration went into those attacks and each one of them brought him relief. After the twentieth blast, Deidara decided to take a break, looking down at the other man's black form laying on the rocky ground.

"Are you sure you cannot die?" he asked him almost jokingly, not expecting an answer. The artist maneuvered the bird to the hill and hopped down. The Uchiha kept on not giving signs of life while he walked towards him. But when he stopped, gazing the man from above, not even leaning down, the supposed corpse's head moved, a sharingan and a rinnegan staring back; the only visible parts of the incenerated man.

"Yes." he managed to say, pulling himself up slowly, groaning from the pain. As that half-dead man suppressed his shouts before him, images started to flow back to Deidara. Memories about him being beaten up in the streets, humiliated and treated like trash during the war, making the same face and trying to hide the same pain. He kneeled down, seeing what Obito would do. His pride told him to watch, but something else in him was stronger. Regret was creeping up his spine. He reached out with a pair of trembling mouthed hands, touching the ash covered shoulders of the victim of his art.

"I'm sorry, Obito. I'm sorry."


	9. Eight

The water flowing down the sink was black after being poured on Obito's head, taking the dust covering him with itself. The Uchiha was rubbing his torso with a wet piece of cloth, cleaning himself up. In the meanwhile, Deidara sat on one of the pillows on the ground of the main room, his throat dry for not having spoken for what seemed like hours. Also, the sink appeared from nowhere; they came back and it was there. The artist hoped he would get a grip of how things worked here sometime soon.

"I'm glad you healed." Obito probably only said that to break the silence. Well, it could be also taken for sarcasm. _I'm glad you healed. I'm glad you blew me up at least twenty times_. But by now, it almost seemed normal to the blond to not understand anything about the other man's life philosophy. What was that martyric act just now? Deidara watched his pale and muscular back moving as he leaned into the water, still dirty. Was he just playing the victim to make him feel guilty? Yeah, that had to be it.

He saw something he hadn't noticed before: Obito's right side was full of those wrinkles he had on his face, too. He knew his childhood accident was serious, but this much...

"As I said, my whole right side's been crushed." Deidara had to remind himself that the taller man had a rinnegan and could see perfectly what was behind him. Obito finally finished washing himself and sat down in front of the blonde. The bomber, strangely enough, wished the other could just put a damn shirt on. If he had to stare at that statue-like exposed build, white and delicate as porcelain and massive as granite, bad things could happen. But there was no way in hell for him to ask Obito that favor. Mostly because he would have to explain why he did.

"I know my scars are disturbing; sorry about that. You blew my cloak up." the Uchiha apologized, obviously noticing Deidara's stare, who wanted to smack himself in the head. He was utterly embarrassed, but he didn't want to make an issue out of it. He brushed it off as a simple instinct for him, who was gay. It'd be stupid not to look at a shirtless guy when he could, right?

"What's next, un?" Deidara started patting the surface of the table with his fingertips in impatience that was out of his character. But what was he looking forward to, exactly? The question was completely honest: he didn't know what was next. And judging by the lack of an answer, the other man also didn't.

"You can do whatever you want now, go to the mine if you feel like it." he sighed, not really saying anything new. The feeling of control over his own life... no, death, was unfamiliar to the blonde after all the mess they did since he had appeared in Tsukuyomi. If there was nothing to do, every issue between them had already had its conclusion, right? So why couldn't he find the strenght to stand up and walk out?

He was stuck in the pose he was sitting in, immobile like one of his statues, except he was not going to explode. Obito was giving him quite the questioning look as he finally moved -his hand, more precisely-, reaching out to the taller man's scarred arm.

"What are you...?" for the first time, the bomber chuckled. It was funny to see the Uchiha so bewildered.

"What's this made of?" the dark haired man didn't even hold the grudge for his limb being referred to as 'this' and answered simply.

"Wood."

"It feels weird, un." the artist stated, running his hand over the other's shoulder, still barely touching.

"I know it's horrible, no need to tell me." Deidara now knew that Obito was a fairly sentimental guy who took certain things personally. He resembled a child, from that point of view. His childhood ending so abruptly probably hadn't had a good effect on his personal development.

"Never said it was." Oops, did that really slip out of his mouth? The blonde man's heartbeat fastened for a split of second, a bit of blood flowing to his cheeks. His thoughts from before flashed into his mind again. It was plain admiration for beauty, he tried to convince himself. He gained back his composition in less than two seconds; an emergency record, considering that the man in front of him was gazing at his reaction. He wondered how much he actually noticed of that short loss of control.

"Deidara..." Obito began to say something; apparently a hard quesiton, of those ones you have to choose the words to use for carefully.

,,For someone who likes guys, do you find me attractive?"

Deidara, despite the resolve he already had about the issue, cursed all the Uchihas again. Itachi, for leaving his brother alive. Sasuke, for making him use his technique and end up here. Obito, for even opening his goddamn mouth in that second. Because he was losing it again, blushing like a little girl, him, a 19-year-old man who wasn't that easy to embarrass either.

More importantly, what should he answer? If he said yes, it'd be the sad end of all his self-control. If he said no, he would be lying. But it was useless, he was going red already, and what most likely was a barely noticeable shade of blushing, still felt striking to him.

"...Yes, in some ways, un."

"I see... I'm glad." Obito turned his head around in a gesture which was an apparent neck-scratching, but Deidara could swear he was trying to hide a small smile plastered on his ruined face with his elbow.

"Why do you ask?" the blonde decided to persist and dig up whatever the other was hiding inside of himself.

"I was wondering about these scars, I thought they were ugly. I bet Rin wouldn't like them either if she were here..." now he showed the slightly lifted corner of his mouth, reassuring Deidara that it was a joke this time; the first one the once-masked man ever made about his past love. But he couldn't hide the darkening on his face after a few seconds. The subject still hurt.

"I think she would be really happy to see you, whatever way you look like." the smaller man stated, with an unsecure voice. Obito soon realized it was his fault; the last time the artist had tried to comment his love life, he'd lost it.

"That's only what I'd like to think." the Uchiha's voice was low and quiet, more a muttering to himself than conversation.

"She didn't love me."

"She would, if she saw you survived for her, un." Deidara said more reassured than before.

"That's not how love works, Deidara. When you love someone, you have no reason for it. Don't you think it'd be more convenient for me to stop feeling anything for Rin? If I could control my emotions... If I could have kept myself from falling in love with her... I wouldn't be a horrible person by now."

"What you just said is exactly what makes you the opposite."

That phrase, it disturbed Obito. Ever since he'd been plotting his plan, he had this terrible opinion on himself. Before he got crushed alive and then saw Rin dying, when he was a child, he had a kind heart. Everyone thought he was the biggest loser in Konoha, but no one could deny that he had good intentions. Ever since that day, his mind's been a mess. He didn't even dare to stop for a second between one action and the other to think, because he knew he would recall too many bad events, violently mixing with the good memories and making his head ache.

So, he took being a bad person for granted. And now a replica of his former partner in his inner world was trying to convince him that he wasn't.

"I've hurt too many people already; I've been through Hell and I'm going back there after my death." he answered to Deidara, who swifted his head slightly.

"I think you're too attached to the past, un." he said, feeling braver than ever after making a comment on Obito's attitude. Said man looked up questioningly.

"I always say that the moment you live in is the most important thing, which is influenced by either the past and the future. What you did and what you're going to do affects your life, but you must live the instant to proceed instead of sticking to one place, un."

"Is that the explanation of your art?" the Uchiha asked -Deidara couldn't believe it- excitedly.

"Exactly. I couldn't make statues if I didn't develop them in the past and I wouldn't if I didn't plan to blow up something. But what matters is the moment when they explode."

The sensation of figuring out something after a lot of struggle had always excited Obito (being kind of a hard learner as a kid), but now it brought him a peace of mind. His different eyes closed partially as he saw the surroundings blur. He had to blink a few times not to fall asleep in the middle of the conversation. He didn't even notice his exhaustion...

"Sorry, I must go to sleep now. We can continue after I wake up." he said, standing up from the table and almost stumbling while entering the other room. And Deidara smiled, not giving a damn about the rinnegan.

How much was it possible to tell about a man's personality only by his appearance? Because, aside from the huge scar covering half of his body, Obito looked as peaceful as a child while he slept. The reason why Deidara knew that was that he decided to sneak inside the futon-room after he was sure that the other slept soundly. Yes, soundly, literally. He snored in his sleep. The blonde man couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. Even complicated people like Obito had these sides to them; because he was human, just like him or any other person. He looked so innocent with his long, black lashes downwards. The artist wished he could see his real eyes, the way they were before he got his 'power-ups'.

Speaking of peacefulness, Deidara realized he'd never been calm for such a long time in his real life... Anger was something he was in constant need of, although he didn't really know why. Maybe to fill up the place of all the other feelings he lacked. True, he had thought he was in love when he came to like some of the men he occasionally had sex with; but thinking back, that must've been some sick attraction or sexual craving. So, basically, anger was the only feeling left for him in his life. But now he didn't miss it anymore. Maybe he was a simple replica who couldn't feel at all. Or, could there possibly be something else in his heart?

That's what he wondered about, lingering on the taller man's sleeping face.

Obito's breath fastened as he rolled around, turning his back to Deidara as if he said ,,Stop staring.". If he were a stranger, some unknown man from a pub, the blonde would have immediately dragged him to his bedroom and not let him go before the morning light. But this was Uchiha Obito. A significant detail. Still, he found himself thinking back to when his shoulder was broken and the other man had touched him in a somewhat human way for the first time. His hands were cold back then, but Deidara had a high body temperature by nature, so they felt relaxing against his skin. He cursed his own sexual interests and himself for cursing so much. He couldn't even define the relationship he had with the Uchiha. Friend, enemy, stranger... He couldn't enter any of these categories, he was lacking something for each of them. And Deidara knew it wasn't right to lock up everyone in these 'boxes', but he needed to know, or else he would never stop thinking about it.

"'Morning" the artist winced as the husky voice of a man who just woke up interrupted his train of thought.

"Huh? Why are you here?" there was no rudeness in Obito's tone, just pure curiosity.

"Well, I..." Deidara started to explain, but in the middle, he realized he hadn't made up the excuse yet.

"Were you watching me?" the once-masked Uchiha asked calmly (the question still came out of the blue).

"Wha- Why would I watch you? Are you crazy, un?" the bomber felt his cheeks redden again. He was starting to get tired of his own reactions.

"I also did when you were sleeping." Obito said like it was the most natural thing in the world, while he rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms.

"Yeah, you shouldn't conclude things because of your sick habits, un!"

"Why is it sick? I just like watching you, that's all."

 _That was the equivalent of "I like you"_ , a part of Deidara's brain told him. But that damn Uchiha was still in love with some dead chick, right? There was nothing to worry about.

"So, were you admiring my stunning beauty, or what?"

"Yes, maybe."

He didn't really get the sarcasm, huh? The blonde man thought.

"Goddamn stalker, un." he said as he left te room, scratching his back with the help of his hand-mouth's teeth (not quite the ladylike way).

"Look who's talking... Didn't I just find you in my room after waking up?" the dark haired man followed him with messy black locks and frayed pants, shirtless once again. He soon found Deidara in the main room, staring at one of the walls blankly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Where the hell did the sink go?"

"Like I said, everything changes places here constantly. Also, objects might appear or disappear. It depends on my state of mind." Obito explained.

"Do you have any way to control it?" the other looked at him with curiosity.

"It's something I should learn to do... Theoretically, if I achieved the complete control over my mind, I could shape this world to my liking."

"Why haven't you said that before?" Deidara was almost yelling as he gripped the taller man's shoulders in excitement. "You could have anything here! It's the utmost empty canvas for imagination, un!"

"Do you know how many times I thought about it already? The problem is, I cannot dominate all my feelings."

"But if you really wanted something, you could get it, right?" the blonde'a tone was more serious, although Obito knew he wasn't right.

"It doesn't work for people in the current state of Tsukuyomi, as I said." he muttered, slowly stepping towards the front door and sitting down on the small stairs leading to it outside. Deidara went after him, but once he got out, he noticed the wooden plank wasn't wide enough for two people to sit comfortably. He wondered if he should. The dark haired man, as he noticed the other's problem, pulled away to make some place; it didn't help a lot, but the bomber valued his effort as he sat down. He couldn't believe how much they had both changed since their first encounter.

"At least, it shouldn't." Obito added to his previous sentence, glaring at Deidara.

"If you think I'm such a huge nuisance, just say it into my face, un." the blonde pouted.

"On contrary," the Uchiha said dreamily while entwining his hands behind his head and leaning back. "Your presence had good effects on me. It's odd how much more compatible we are now, comparing to life."

Deidara stared widely at the word 'compatible'. He wish the taller man could talk in a less complicated way; he wanted to know what Obito was aiming at. In the past 'hours' he sounded like he was implying something.

"I was wondering... Why is it me sitting here now, instead of Rin?" the former Akatsuki terrorist said in the least offensive tone he could. In fact, he had an answer ready for his own question, but he didn't want to say it out loud. The Uchiha stared up at the carmine red sky.

"I'll be honest. I don't know."

Try to think about it, then, Deidara thought. It was weird, but he wanted the other nin to admit whatever he was hiding; because there surely was something. He was an Uchiha after all; they all had unrevealed issues. Despite their modifications due to the visual jutsu, he could see in the other's eyes that he was keeping something big to himself.

"What if...?" he began, but he didn't have the guts to say it out loud. He was staring at his hand-mouths awkwardly, trying to avoid the other's gaze.

Deidara took a breath to start over again.

"What if I was some kind of replacement, un?" there, he had blattered something without thinking again. Obito's eyes widened and brows furrowed. He almost looked like he was going to have a heart attack. Okay, the blonde thought, he just said something really weird, but that reaction was a little exaggerated. Maybe it was some crazy, unimaginable thing in the Uchiha's head, but he stood up harshly, even panting a bit.

"What's going on?" Deidara asked, realizing he was sounding a little too concerned, too.

"Nothing. I need to be alone for some time, sorry." he said as he entered at a quick pace and shut the door behind himself.


	10. Nine

**...And everything escalates. Thank you for the support once again, I know I keep repeating myself, but I REALLY re-read those 6 reviews every day. It just feels extra-nice to me that you liked this story enough to leave a review on it. Ok, sorry. Lemon ahead by the way. And sorry for using hair colour as pronouns. I don't do that anymore, it's just too much of a pain to correct.**

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They were just starting to get close and he screwed it up again, Deidara thought, making up punishments for his uncontrollable self. He didn't even care to guess how much time had passed since the Uchiha had gone inside. He was still sitting on the stairs, now having the plank all to himself. While he did so, he cleansed up some things in his head. He admitted it; he wanted to be around Obito. He was the only person here besides him and he hadn't been acting like a jerk lately. The artist was doing what he should have done way before: giving the other man a chance. For what exactly, he didn't know yet.

The sliding sound of the door woke up Deidara's curiosity. The dark haired man walked out, stopping in front of the sitting artist, just standing and watching.

"So?" the blonde asked. Obito took a breath.

"I might feel something for you."

The bomber's jaw dropped. He had to admit, he did think about that, but this was way too straightforward.

"S-something like what, un?"

"I... well..." the display would've been funny if it were about a less serious issue. The Uchiha survivor was tangled up in his own words, lost in whatever he was trying to say. He shut and re-opened his mouth a few times, no sound coming out.

"Attraction." he finally managed to say. Deidara, having heard that confession many other times in his life, tilted his head to the side, resting it on his own shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"I have no idea." Obito answered, not looking him in the eyes. The color of his face was amusing by itself. But this was something the bomber didn't expect. When he asked that question, other men usually answered things like 'You look hot' or 'I love your charisma'. Maybe that's why he'd never had a serious relationship, come to think of.

His chest felt like being torn open by all those new feelings. This almost unknown person seemed serious about him, so much, in fact, that he was acting like a shy teenager despite being a 30-year-old man. He'd never met such a person in his life spent in the real world. Why was the Uchiha 'attracted' to him, as he would say? Was there even an explanation for such a thing? Deidara didn't know, and he didn't know much about love either. But there was something he was sure about: he had more than one reason to give it a try.

"Prove it, un." Deidara was almost embarrassed about how insecure that sounded.

According to the order, Obito leaned down, one hand holding the back of his neck, the other his shoulder, as his face got closer and closer.

The artist wanted to blow something up, just to express his current sensations. He was close, closer than ever; they were already kissing, the time suddenly passing incredibly fast. Deidara couldn't keep up with the events, the slightly rough lips on his, the cold hands caressing his neck, collarbone and shoulder... His arms were unconsciously wrapped around Obito, his right fingers entwining with raven locks, forcing the taller man to continue. It was an explosion, an explosion of neglected feelings bottled up inside of both of them for too long. It all made sense to the blonde now, every reaction he didn't know where to put in the past, the way he blushed, his embarrssement... Obito plunged his tongue in Deidara's mouth who shed a moan with an awkwardness none of them cared about in that moment. The Uchiha's earlier awkwardness was now turning into some greedy lust, giving him the determination to envelop the blonde in his arms tighter, not stopping the kissing for a single moment. He devoured the other man's mouth like someone who got lost in the desert and had just found water.

"Deidara" he murmured the one moment he had to stop to breathe.

"Deidara... Deidara..." it was a mantra now. He knew he sounded like an idiot, having nothing else to say, but he had lost control over his brain which could've helped him to speak clearly. And though the other men usually whispered something sexy at that point, the artist didn't mind this change at all. Anything was fine if it was Obito.

"Let's take this to the room, un." Deidara said when their lips parted again. His cheeks turned red, but he had no time to think of why was he blushing at something he could shamelessly say in the pubs.

Their make-out session was interrupted by the gaze Obito gave Deidara when they were already on the dusty, single-person futon.

"Have you ever done it with a guy?" came the awkward question from the blonde.

"N-not really."

"Just do as I say then." Deidara whispered in his ear, almost sensually. The raven didn't need to be told twice and helped the other out of his robes, working down his pants afterwards. When the underwear came off, too, the artist could hear his own heart beat furiously. That moment had always been an anxiety for him, since he had been mistaken for a woman once or twice. Yes, it was also his fault for picking up such ignorant people, but the delusion or even disgust on their face when they found out he was a guy was one of the worst things in his life. Well, it didn't seem like Obito thought he was a woman, but still... The man had been in love with a girl for all his past life. Wouldn't he be disappointed at the sight?

The whole train of thought was easily forgotten when Obito started to place small kisses on his jaw, trailing downwards while his hands brushed the bomber's sides and torso. He seemed completely heated up and out of his mind. All of his movements were fast, nipping and touching all he could frantically. He lifted his head, opening his mouth hesitantly.

"You're beautiful." there he went down, kissing his lips again. He couldn't have enough of that, but neither could Deidara, who was now laying on his back with the other man towering above him. He wasn't completely sure if he should hold back his moans or not; he hadn't opened up wholly yet, since Obito was still a little intimidating. It was a little funny as well, since as much as he was trying to act on it, the older man had an obvious lack of experience. As the Uchiha went lower with his kisses again, the smaller man sucked on his right index and middle finger, pushing them into his own entrance not much later. A little moan left his throat, shutting his eyes. He re-opened them when he noticed that the raven froze. The scarred face was giving him a questioning look.

"Can I...?" the words were whispered softly, as if Obito were trying to keep his voice down not to shout as all the sensations took him over (Deidara was glad he wasn't the only one affected by the affair). How was that sentence supposed to end? Neither of them cared; they understood each other anyway. The blond took the once-masked man's hand and coated all his fingers thoroughly with saliva, helping with the left hand-mouth. After that, he pulled out his own digits, hissing up a little.

The Uchiha shoved his fingers inside his former partner, unable to control the force he put into the movement. The artist whimpered under him.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" he apologized right away, a bit of fear appearing in his expression; something which never had before.

"No... Ah! Keep going, un."

Obito scissored inside Deidara, soon figuring out that the act's purpose was stretching. He couldn't help a small smile; it didn't come out of sadism though. He was simply happy he could do this, happy to love the right person at the right time. Someone who was there, someone he could kiss and touch.

"What's so funny?" the bomber panted, a huge blush spreading on his disheveled face. God, Obito would've never thought he would see his 'Senpai' like this one day.

"I wasn't laughing" he said, lifting the blonde man's chin and stealing a kiss while he thrust in and out with his fingers. However, he stopped when Deidara shakingly muttered:

"H-hey, don't make me come during the preparation, un!" and really, as he said that, his cock was already dripping precum from the tip. The raven quickly overcame the self-judgement for screwing up something at the worst of times and pulled out.

"And take off your clothes." he heard from under him, added to the previous phrase. In the rush Obito forgot completely about undressing, and only now that it was mentioned to him he found out how tight his pants felt. Quickly catching up with his partners nudity, he couldn't help but stare at his own sex organ a little stupidly as it sprung free. He had never been this hard in his whole life. The nervousness, the passion and the curiosity also added up to his arousal. He swore that if, by some unnatural coincidence, he ever had the possibility to have sex with anyone else, he would choose Deidara a billion times over them. No one made him feel like this. And they weren't even at the best part.

The raven gasped as he felt something moist enveloping his erection. The blonde skilfully licked along his shaft to wake him up from his thoughts, only to take him in again. Obito was panting hard. This was bad; he would release in less than ten seconds if he had to watch those lips circling his cock, if his sight met those half-lidded blue eyes foggy from lust, if he had to feel Deidara's tongue working on the head then the length, the base, the length again...

"S-stop." he commanded awkwardly. He brought the artist down again, making them regain their earlier positions.

The blonde man laid with his legs spread out wide, hips bucking upwards, looking for friction he couldn't find. There wasn't anything more to say in that situation; and after the Uchiha stated it to himself, he began to slowly push inside the bomber.

Deidara moaned out loudly. There was tension in Obito's mind; tension between his will not to hurt the other man and his desire to finally be sheated. The artist was doing his best to adjust, but who knew how long had it been since he had last done this? What made him feel a little more at ease was seeing that the Uchiha was almost suffering more than him, due to his desperation to move. The blonde felt he was loosening up, his heavy breathing slowly ceasing.

"I'm fine now, un."

Apparently, Obito didn't really know what he was implying. Deidara chuckled a little then wrapped his arms around the other man's neck, pulling him down to whisper in his ear.

"Take me."

And so the other did. He acquired a fast pace very quickly, both of them panting and longing for the release. The Uchiha wondered what exactly they were doing, all those realizations befalling on him in a time lapse of only a few hours. In the ninja world people referred to this as 'fucking', but to him it felt like that fading concept of making love. He wondered if Deidara was the same, making the most incoherents of sounds beneath him. His thrusts were welcomed by the blonde's cries, but his arousal gave off that he was feeling good. Obito kept on ramming into the other man, leaning down closer. They were almost close enough to be only one, just parts of the same engine.

They lost recognition of who came first. Deidara was shouting out something neither one of their fogged minds could remember.

The artist's face regained order and composition surprisingly quickly as he took a loincloth that had appeared out of nowhere to wipe away sweat and the remnants of their affair. The taller man sat up, a little dumbfounded, but his partner pulled him down again, stealing yet another kiss.

"I've been so lonely..." Obito said silently.

"Me too, un."

The sky seemed brighter, somehow, like a sunrise after the exceedingly long night. Both men were gazing into nowhere, a little tired from sex. More tones seemed to have appeared in Tsukuyomi and the surroundings looked less sharp. The colours blurred and melt into each other, giving the wood and the desert an artistic atmosphere. It looked like a whole different world.

"I wish I could stay here like this forever." the Uchiha sat down next to Deidara from his standing position. His strict features had softened up.

"Why can't you?" the blonde asked, agitation in his voice.

"I'm still alive. And time passes in the real world. Slowly, but it does."

"So that means you'll be gone?!" the bomber froze, obviously upset. Obito now regret even bringing up this subject, but he felt the need to explain at that point.

"If someone drags me out of my meditation state, I'll snap back. But, until then, we have plenty of time."

"How much time? For what?" Deidara wondered if this impatience was Sasori's remote influence. The bigger man dragged him to his chest.

"Calm down. I still have places to show you."

The blonde man opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again. The other was right; there was no need to rush anything. He had to put up with the ambiguity of this world. He could never be sure of anything, after all.


	11. Ten

**I am, once again, thankful for your kind reviews. And this is the last chapter I have as pre-made... After this, I'll have to ACTUALLY CONTINUE THE STORY... Which is gonna be hard, because, you know, writing is FUCKING HARD. Exhausting, also. Don't ever fool yourselves by thinking it's easy, what do you know, writing a crappy 200-word drabble might take someone A DAY. You should always appreciate people who write and say at least a prayer for them because they might die from exhaustion in a random moment. Sorry for ranting.**

 **Signed: A Perfectionist Lowlife Who Writes Fanfiction**

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Obito could have done many bad things in his life, but something he would never do was not fulfilling promises. Mainly, because that was what Kakashi had done to him by not protecting Rin and he knew how much pain it caused. So, when he told Deidara he was intending to show him something amazing, he would.

He could only hope, though, that the blonde didn't lose interest yet, since they had been walking for quite a while now, far away from the house, the wood, the mine or any reference point they had. But the Uchiha knew where their path led to; it was his inner world, after all.

"Are you tired?" he turned around, looking at the other man (he still didn't know if he could refer to him as his lover).

"I wouldn't be a ninja if I lost my breath after such a short walk, un!" he answered with a half smile, a little offended.

"Nah, I don't know, you've been sleeping a lot lately..."

"I'm fine, okay?" the artist scolded Obito jokingly.

The Uchiha's thoughts wandered, thinking back at the times when they were both alive, in the Human world. They would walk almost like this, except he would talk nonstop in his Tobi-act, probably annoying Deidara to death. He wondered if this silence meant any good, if the artist had gotten bored of him already. None of them was a man of many words by nature, but that wasn't how lovers acted. Obito knew what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to cuddle, joke, kiss, talk about random topics and forget about all the sad things. Was that even possible in such a place? What kind of sick love had he bred? First of all, he couldn't see any balance at all in their relationship. One of them had always had the upper hand, and then they switched, switched, switched... It was an endless cricle of changing. Deidara had bossed him around during his lifetime. Obito had mentally abused him after he appeared in Tsukuyomi and then let him inflict some physical damage, only to respond with dominance in their lovemaking. From the outside, it would've sounded like he was the one controlling the events, but in the end, everything he did was heavily influenced by Deidara. To sum it up, they had never once been equal.

His eyes widened a little with the realization befalling on him in the next moment. Maybe Deidara wasn't happy at all with what was happening, maybe he was dragging him along in the rush of his uncontrollable feelings. It was Obito's first time confessing openly like that (to his regret, he had never dared to act the same with Rin) and he was so glad about his own completion that he had disregarded the artist completely while -paradoxically- trying to love him.

In his early days in the Akatsuki, while working for Zetsu, he took his chances to observe other members, so he had assisted to some of Deidara's and Sasori's moments as partners. The two of them clearly loathed each other, or at least, that's what came off from the way they literally attempted to chop one another's heads off 24/7. It made 'Tobi' wonder if their relationship had a little more to it than it seemed. Even if it was rage, it felt alive, whilst the bond between him and Deidara was dead, in a dead world, featuring someone dead and someone about to die.

The least he wanted was Deidara to suffer. And the weight of the love he had dumped on him could've crushed him and become unbearable soon. No, there was no way he could allow that! He decided he would end all this before it was too late, before the other starts hating him.

"You seem very focused on something, un." the blonde man stated after having stared at Obito for a few seconds.

"Do you believe-" the Uchiha started in response, stopping halfway through to figure out the best way to end the sentence.

"... that love is also fleeting?"

"Where are you bringing this up from?" Deidara furrowed his brows.

"I'm just... trying to understand your art, you know." it was hard to spit out those words. A lie, such an ugly and flattering lie. Of course, he was interested in the topic, but the question wasn't really about art now. The bomber smiled genuinely, not even suspicious.

"Love is rather for fools, even if I'm admittedly a fool right now. An explosion leaves a sense of greatness in the heart, but your lover dying... no, that definitely doesn't."

"You did make me go through that, though."

"Pfft, you didn't even feel anything about me back then."

"Who knows; maybe, I unconsciously did."

In the meanwhile, the wood got thicker and thicker around them. The trees seemed to have changed, too: they looked darker and somewhat crystalline, as if made out of obsidian. The further they walked, the more it felt like they were going to get tangled up in all the geometrical branches barely distinguishing from the darkness created by the trees' shadows.

After the other margin of the forest lied a shallow valley. Its end faded in the mist, indicating how large it was. There were some sponge-like rocks lying around in casual places.

"Um... Obito?"

"Yes?"

"Do places in your head hold some meaning?"

"I guess so, although, I can't figure out all of them. Doing that would be being in a perfect connection with your inner world. Equals illumination."

"I was just asking because I'd really like to know what this place represents, un." before he could ask why, Obito noticed the bewildered expression on Deidara's face; as if he didn't know if he should be puzzled or amazed by the valley. The first thing catching his attention was the actual size of it. He stared into the foggy horizon then turned to the ground, getting on his knees. The other male walked closer to him silently, observing what he was doing. A mouthed hand stretched out to one of the black rocks, quickly retiring as a startled 'gah!' left Deidara's lips.

"What's going on?" Obito asked, kneeling down. As an answer, the artist indicated the object before him. The rock had looked completely ordinary from further away, but looking closely, the two of them could notice that there were small faces carved into them, an endless amount of deformed expressions of agony and horror. Deidara stood up and, looking carefully, saw that every single rock had the same pattern.

"Y-you told me you'd show me something beautiful, but this is plain creepy, un!"

"I'm sorry, I've never noticed them..." the black haired man scratched the back of his neck, attempting to ease the tension with a small smile.

"You realize this is your subconscious, right? Just how much self-awareness you lack? I, who had never been here, noticed something like this before you! Jeez!" Obito was a little struck by his partner's blunt ways, but he gave an 'I can't help it' smile in the end. Sometimes he had to remind himself that Deidara was not a girl, and thus wouldn't be all angelic and gentle with him. They started walking away, 'Tobi' following his 'Senpai'.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I'm planning to make a new world."

"HUH?"

After the brief explanation of the details, Obito stated his final purpose, not expecting the confusedness on the blonde's part. They were in the house once again; Deidara decided he preferred just staying in peace for a while instead of going on more crazy trips. A thought had popped into his mind when they settled down in the main room, precisely, something the other man had mentioned before about some plan. The once-masked nin started explaining the concept, and for a while, everything still made sense. Madara. Eye techniques. Sharingan. More eye techniques. Uchiha-issues. Juubi. But then, the reason behind all that was something absurd.

"What do you mean a 'new world'?"

"I mean it just as I said." Obito shrugged, as if they were talking about something completely normal.

"I'm unpleased with the morbidness and unfairness of the Human World, so I'm going to replace it with something better. A place where no one will be in pain again. Where no one will have to die like her." Deidara's pupils restricted, glaring at the other, refusing to believe.

"You-... you... You are completely nuts, un!"

"It's not impossible, not with the level of techniques I can manage! I've been working on this for so long, it's so close I can reach it if I only stretch out my arm!" Obito grabbed Deidara by the shoulders enthusiastically.

"Yeah, try to stretch it out and you'll only grab air, un!" the blonde said in a bitter tone.

"What's with you, Deidara?! Do you realize you're going to be alive again in that world? It's only a few steps away! The plan is almost complete!"

"I'm... dead..." the artist's expression suddenly changed.

"With my power, I'll be able to resurrect anyone I want." Obito smiled reassuringly. He seemed like a different person. Deidara had never seen so much hope and joy on his face. As if, after all he had been through, the only positive thing he could cling to was that utopistic idea of his. And then, another connection established in his head between the earlier facts.

The bomber looked down at the greyish wooden floor. He felt dizzy, even though he was sitting already. The other man looked at him, unable to figure out what he was thinking. Finally, he slowly muttered something.

"You... The reason why you want to do this... is..."

"Hang on, you don't need to be so scandalized about it, I've planned out all the particualrs, I can reassure you that it'll wo-" Obito said while stretching out an arm towards Deidara's face. His hand got slapped away.

"You're trying to resurrect Rin, aren't you?"


	12. Eleven

**Lo and behold, the tobidei-asshat is back. With a freshly written chapter and correct quotation marks. It's pretty short, but that's just how I do things. I hate writing/reading stuff that's too long, that would require an excessive level of concentration of me. 1 review = my level of dopamine doubling and the entirety of water contained in my body leaving through my eyes.**

 **2016/07/31 Edit: Separation marks fixed.**

* * *

"You're trying to resurrect Rin, aren't you?"

Everything stopped for a moment, including Obito's breath. Before his brain could even comprehend the situation, he was already feeling anxiety looming over him. He tried to put together a coherent sentence in his mind, but the more he elaborated on them, the more absurd they sounded. _Yes, that's what I'm doing. But..._ What should he say after 'But'? _It's going to be alright anyway because nobody will be jealous in a perfect world_? There was one thing he knew for sure: his feelings for Deidara were serious and that was probably one of the reasons why this part hurt him so much.

Obito didn't dare to look the other man in the eye. Instead, he stared at the floor blankly, accidentally noticing how his hand was trembling. Deidara, on the other hand, was like a statue.

The stillness was interrupted by a rumble. Both nin turned around in the direction the sound was coming from. It sounded like it was getting closer every second. Deidara -despite his shock- was the faster one to react, hopping on his feet and running towards the door. The taller man followed him suit a second later.

"What is _that_?" Deidara shouted as the noise muffled his voice. He was looking at a huge crack on the ground, a split with a seemingly endless abyss in between. Pieces of ground and black trees fell in as the chasm got wider and wider. Everything around them was trembling.

"Obito, WHAT'S GOING ON?" the blonde asked again after not recieving an answer from the other man.

"I HAVE NO IDEA!"

Then, suddenly, the piece of terrain they were standing on started to move and turn on itself, making them lose their balance. Deidara knocked his head in the hard ground, fainting.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Obito's eyes shot open. He was covered in cold sweat, sitting in a cave. How exactly did he end up there? His head was pulsating and his sense of reality hadn't settled yet. Looking at his surroundings, he started to recognize them. Right, he had come here some time ago... What was he trying to do? He had a battle with Danzo's men... But how much time had passed since then? Was it yesterday or one week ago? Which part of the plan was he at? Where did he arrange the meeting with Kabuto? One by one, he remembered all the answers. He had been meditating. The last time he fought had been weeks ago. They were supposed to meet here with Kabuto so he could report on how _edo tensei_ was going. Still, he felt like he was missing out on something.

As expected, the robe-clad figure of Orochimaru's ex-servant stepped forward from the darkness.

"You looked like something went wrong in _Tsukuyomi_ , so I tried to wake you up. I apologize, I did what I did in order not to delay the plan."

Obito turned towards him. He shouldn't have let his guard down around that man. Despite Kabuto's attempts to prove himself to him, he still didn't trust him.

"How long have I been in there?"

"Oh, an exceptional amount of time. More than ten minutes. Should I be aware of some change in plans? Did something unexpected happen?" Kabuto whispered. He was kneeling before Obito to be on his eye-level.

The dark-haired nin's pulse fastened. He knew how sneaky his 'ally' was and how trying to sound suspicious in every situation was part of his tactics, but still, he was afraid that he _might know something_. What exactly, he couldn't put his finger on. His identity? The fact that he wasn't a hundred percent sure that _Mugen Tsukuyomi_ would work? He was becoming paranoid.

"We shouldn't waste more time on this." Obito tried to verbally wave the issue away "Did you manage to execute edo tensei on the prescribed individuals?"

"Albeit with some difficulties, the revived Akatsuki-members are ready to use. I can summon them at any time."

"Difficulties?" the masked man furrowed his brows (a gesture not visible to anyone).

"If I may ask this favor of you, please warn me next time when a soul had been reincarnated once. Having already been through _edo tensei_ can strain the soul considerably, making the second implementation of the technique much slower."

"What are you talking about? No one knew about the technique after the Akatsuki-members' death." Obito commented, trying to hide the bewilderment in his tone. He stood up abruptly jumping towards the other man who, strangely enough, didn't resist the attack. The Uchiha restrained Kabuto against a stone wall with one arm across both his shoulders.

"What's with the aggressivity all of the sudden?" the snake-man asked in an oddly calm manner.

"You think I'm trying to deceive you, aren't you?" Obito hissed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Deidara woke up slowly. He had a déja-vu. Or, rather, he was getting used to passing out and waking up in strange places. As mentioned, he was once again completely unfamiliar with his surroundings. All he remembered was that they almost had a fight with Obito when _Tsukuyomi_ suddenly started collapsing and that his vision went blank after he fell due to the earthshake.

It was almost completely dark around him, only dim lights coming through from somewhere nearby. The place was something similar to an underground tunnel. It was empty enough for Deidara to realize that it was yet another part of the parallel dimension where he ended up. It had a different feel to it than the cave where he had been before, though. He got up from the ground, trying to acquaint himself with this part of _Tsukuyomi_.

As he walked through the passages aimlessly, he started wondering about Obito. He felt too misplaced to be angry at the other man, but that didn't keep him from reflecting on the plan-issue. Although it hurt, he partially understood the Uchiha's perspective; after all, he might not even be the real Deidara. Would he really be a good reason to give up an objective he had been aiming to for such a long time?

His eyes slowly started to get used to the darkness. He could now figure out what else there was around him: the walls were covered by small colonies of some sort of moss or mushroom. The small forms of life glowed with weak, blue light which wasn't too useful to illuminate the whole passage around them, but was enough for them to be seen. Deidara tried to touch them but felt repelled by the slime covering them. Sometimes he felt like he was a little girl instead of a ninja, but still, he preferred not to get in contact with disgusting things if he could avoid it. Also, they could've been poisonous.

He knew what he was supposed to do; try to get out of here somehow and look for Obito. Still, he couldn't bring himself to call out his name. He was still mad at the other man and was absolutely positive about not wanting to see his face in that moment. Deidara started clenching his fists unconsciously, angering himself with his own thoughts without even noticing it. Yes, wanting to keep going with the plan was a human reaction. It was normal. But he didn't want Obito to have simply a _normal_ reaction in something regarding him: he wanted him to be brave, to do one more step forward comparing to everyone else. If the once-masked nin really loved him, his feelings would be unconditional and he would be willing to give up his childish delusions for him.

What kind of plan did he have anyway? How was he going to 'create a new world'? How was that even possible? Deidara kicked a group of moss, sending its blue-ish pieces all over the ground. Anyone with a sane set of morals would've chosen reality over a fantasy world. And then the realization struck him. Yes, but _he, himself_ was in a metaphysical dimension, too. Coming back to him wasn't a more realistic choice.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"No, I don't _think_ you are trying to deceive me" Kabuto said in a stifled voice while the masked man's hand was gradually shifting up to his neck, blocking his windpipe "I am _certain_ that you are."

"Care to explain?" Obito inched closer to his face.

"You know well enough that a second _edo tensei_ takes days. I suppose the plan is not that urgent if you can delay it by that much without even telling me in advance."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kabuto. Who was it? Who had been reincarnated already?" the dark-haired nin said, raising his voice.

"Wait... Yes, I know now. That bomber kid from Iwagakure, Deidara. He used to be Onoki's disciple, sounds familiar?"

Obito released Kabuto due to a sudden headache. He massaged his temples under the mask, trying to ease the pounding pain. The memories were flowing back.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Deidara finally arrived to a place that looked slightly different. There was an underground streamlet generating from a spring on a wall. The natural corridor was wider around the waterflow which continued on in one direction, disappearing into the darkness. The bomber was desperately trying to find a way to the surface, but whatever way he went, he just kept going deeper underground. He now realized that he must have fallen in the crack during the earthquake; his bodily integrity could be explained by the strange laws of physics in _Tsukuyomi_.

Anyway, his top priority was finding Obito. Whatever his opinion on the Uchiha was, he couldn't even hope to orient himself without his help. He decided he would walk along the stream since it was the only recognizable scenery component. Deidara started to feel the exhaustion which had caught him off-guard so many times in this world. He sat down on a rock and watched as the water flowed by.

He felt his head getting heavier and heavier but he wanted to avoid sleeping, if possible. He was anxious about what was going to happen and started wondering how his mental integrity was still intact. Maybe he was already going crazy and half of the things he was seeing were just products of his imagination. Deidara tried to reach up to his forehead to rub it - an act that was harder than it sounded in his current conditions. He caught a glimpse of his hand and recoiled. _Transparent_?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"That's impossible. He died right before Konan. I almost got caught up in his technique." Obito whispered in disbelief. He tried to keep in touch with reality and continue his dialogue with Kabuto, but the loads of images suddenly appearing in his mind almost tore his head apart. They were faint pictures him and Deidara having a fight, then talking. Then even stranger things. It almost felt like remembering the details of a dream. The Uchiha perceived them as memories, but he couldn't pinpoint their place on the timeline of his life.

Kabuto was smiling behind his back; Obito didn't even need to see his face to know. The snake-man had caught him in a moment of extreme weakness which gave him the upper hand in their little game of power.

"Oh yes, this issue with Deidara... So interesting... A sidenote to the entirety of our plan, but what a peculiar one at that!" Kabuto rambled.

"I don't know anything about this." the other got on the defensive, trying to terminate the topic.

"You know why else this is interesting?" Obito's partner in crime chuckled, incosiderate of his response.

"Because" he continued "The only ones who know about edo tensei and are alive right now are the two of us."

The Uchiha's heart skipped a beat.

"So, considering that _I_ didn't revive Deidara, I wonder who did?"


	13. Twelve

**So... Uh... I suppose I owe everyone an apology for disappearing. I had a lot of stuff going on, both IRL and on the internet. This included an exam period during which I nearly jumped off a bridge. But that's besides the point. Here's a new chapter I have yet to proofread. One of these days I'll reformat this whole thing and also upload it to AO3 (better site), just not now. Just making this exhausted me. Cheers and thanks for the reviews~**

* * *

The atmosphere on that day could be accurately described as a 'silence before the storm'. Obito was sat on a tree branch, resting before what would most likely be an upcoming battle. Konoha was mobilizing its forces - at least a small group - while Kabuto had just gotten the Zetsus and the resurrected Akatsuki-members ready. However, he _wished_ he could pay attention to the political maneuvers he should've. His last trip to Tsukuyomi had taken a massive toll on him, misplaced images flowing freely in his head and making him question the accuracy of his memory overall.

Mostly, he wondered what Deidara had to do with any of this. He was intelligent enough to not lie to himself and admit that there was something weird going on with that man from Iwagakure. It wasn't even the first time Obito had felt like this about him; he saw his first trainings with Sasori, some bits of their partnership, his behavioral patterns. He knew his background as well as his surprisingly young age. Something was off about him. What the Uchiha knew least of all where to put were his apparent sexual fantasies regarding Deidara. It was as if he'd always been thinking about doing _certain things_ to him, ever since they've started being partners, because he had a sense of deja-vu about the images in his head. Still, he didn't remember _imagining_ them.

Sensing a source of chakra approaching him, he reemerged from his thoughts and opened his eyes. It was Kabuto, and having to deal with him right now brought him to a slight state of irritation. It had to be done, nonetheless.

"We ought to go."

Obito hopped down from his tree, following his ally without saying anything. They arrived to the meetup location shortly, all their summoned fighting entities back from a previous series of battles. Familiar faces. Except the black sclera and the cracks on their skin, signifying their status as the living dead.

It would've been a lie to say that Obito didn't feel any remorse when he saw them. Naturally, they were oblivious to the fact that he had essentially caused them to die, not knowing his real identity. The deceased members of his organization acted as if they'd been alive the whole time; they bickered, chatted and resorted to their usual hobbies. In fact, Deidara and Sasori were currently arguing about some utterly trivial topic. It filled the Uchiha with a bitter nostalgia, knowing that their lifespan would only be prolonged by a few hours. It made him a little confused to look at his former partner after what's been going on in his fantasies, but in the end, it was an interesting change to see him again.

"...And they replaced you with some kind of dumbass named Tobi" he overheard Deidara saying.

Obito decided to step closer, thinking of the amusement he would get out of the blonde noticing that the one he's been badmouthing was standing directly next to him. When the other shot a quick and confused glance in his direction, he suddenly remembered that his mask and outfit had been replaced and perhaps it wasn't so easy to recognize him. Still, he presumed Deidara had thought of the possibility, considering how he had furrowed his brows.

The two artists resumed their conversation. They still had a few hours before the next confrontation with Konoha, so everyone seemed to take their sweet time with the preparations. Kabuto had said it earlier on: _Using the zombies' personality is a massively positive factor in battle, but we have to counter their personal quirks with patience instead of expecting them to just obey us_ _._ Obito sat on a rock. He wasn't planning to talk to any of the revived members; that would've meant explaining that he was indeed Tobi, as well as the 180 degree turn his personality had taken. Too long of a discourse, and it would make them question the ends of the battle.

He wasn't expecting Deidara to walk up to him, out of all people. Well, great. That would make everything even _more_ complicated.

"You look awfully familiar, un."

No response.

"Are you Kabuto's subordinate?"

After reflecting a little, Obito realized that nothing too bad could happen.

"His ally" he stated, turning the black-and-white mask towards Deidara, who started looking even more confused. Maybe the similar design reminded him. Or… it could've been the fact that when you're the only one in the Akatsuki-circles walking around with a mask, it ironically makes you identifiable.

"Wait a second… Tobi?"

"Please stop before you even start demanding explanations." Obito sighed.

"So you've grown up mentally, huh?" was Deidara's reaction.

"War takes its toll on people." Something livened up inside the Uchiha; the same spontaneity and thirst for amusement that prompted him to construct the Tobi-character. These were only a few hours which didn't matter anything; he'd play the game then. He wouldn't explain a thing.

"You're right; I like fighting, but I hate war" the blonde continued, trying to initiate a casual conversation "It's hard to get food or any other commodity. Your family gets killed, you lose your loved ones. There's no one there to help you, un."

He turned towards the other man who seemed to be a little lost in his thoughts.

"Have you ever lost a loved one, Kabuto's Ally?"

Obito shot a suspecting glance at him - which he couldn't see due to the mask.

"What if I have?"

"I've tried to make some guesses, you see, un." he smiled. "Since you're not Kabuto's subordinate, that must mean you're as powerful as him. Yet, the two of you have an alliance, despite what a demanding, untrustworthy, insufferable prick Kabuto is. There must be some strong motivation in you in order to team up with him. Like the death of a loved one, un."

Obito's pulse fastened as the chat took an unexpected turn. Firstly, he had to remind himself sometimes that Deidara had '9/10 intelligence' written on his info card. Then again, it was hard to believe he'd be able to come to such a precise conclusion about someone he barely knew a thing about.

"I'd rather call it desperation" the dark-haired nin said.

"Well, I wouldn't know. After all, I don't really remember my family, nor did I have any significant bonds. Last time I tried to give someone advice on this, they made it clear that it was a sensitive topic to them… In a pretty violent manner."

Where had the Uchiha heard that before? He felt like he was going crazy for a second. He just had another rush of memories, similar to the one that overcame him when he spoke to Kabuto. Deidara continued.

"Such a nasty world we live in, un. But it won't always be like this, will it? Not when the plan is completed."

"You know about the plan?" Obito asked in shock. The blonde shifted a little, leaning against the wall of rock with his back.

"Oh, maybe."

"I had no idea Kabuto went around telling people. I need to reprimand him for this."

"Don't worry, he wasn't the one who told me." The Iwa nin sat down too.

The older of the two started to make a reconstruction in his head. Ever since he woke up from his last meditation, his memories were messed up, as if he had just forgotten about a period of his life; everything he didn't understand afterwards seemed like a clue pointing at past events. It was all somehow connected to Deidara, and the Uchiha - not being a halfwit himself - came to the conclusion that he had met him during some times he couldn't remember. Said man interrupted his train of thought a moment later.

"Why do you wear a mask,... _Tobi_?"

"Why do people wear masks, usually?" he responded in an ironical tone "I don't want to be recognized."

"There are things you can't hide with that, un."

"For example?"

"Your chakra, your techniques, your mannerisms."

Obito was getting uncomfortable with the exchange. He felt an incredible superiority in knowledge on Deidara's part and he became childish and defensive in response. How much older was he? Ten years? Still, he was being mocked by a teenager; a violence-crazed maniac, moreover.

"Maybe more people know you than you think, Kabuto's Ally. Un." Deidara added.

In the meanwhile, Kabuto was calling out for the fighters, so the Iwa nin left, giving the other man a pat on the shoulder as he stood up. It was a natural and fearless gesture, one for which the Uchiha would've punched anyone else into the ground for disrespecting him. Not now, though.

He was left speechless, his hands shaking and his shoulder burning where it had been touched. How would he not know that sensation? It was a hand that had held onto his nape during kisses, stroked his skin, reached out to him. He was hopelessly, desperately in love with the person who had just departed to a battle where he would most likely die. His headache worsened.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Deidara took a long sigh as he quietly traveled on his clay bird, hair flowing freely in the wind. He'd never been a fan of exaggerated sentimental displays; the war had taught him to keep his cool even when he felt like his life was collapsing in on itself. It was the same as the first time Sasori had died: the news left him with a mind numb from the loss, unable to think properly. His only outward reaction was silence, but inside, it was as if a part of his life had been cut away. It would've been a stretch to say he had _loved_ Sasori; the Iwa nin found his artistic ideals outright ridiculous and his personality unbearable. But the Akatsuki puppetmaster was smart, capable, undenibly a great artist, and most of all, Deidara was used to him.

The blonde took a glance at Sasori's reincarnation, moving with lengthy jumps a few meters below him. As much as it had hurt to lose him and as much as a delight it was to talk to him again, Deidara forced himself to be apathetic on the outside.

Which made him question whether Obito had been faking his reactions or had really lost his memories. The moment he reappeared in the human world - when Kabuto inserted his soul back into his reincarnated body - his mind was hazy too, but it didn't take him too long to put the bigger picture together in his head. Not only did he remember everything that had happened in Tsukuyomi in detail, but he also found out about a sensation he was starting to be familiar with; his soul being yanked back and forth between dimensions. It was hard to put it into words. To say the least, it was unpleasant. The last thing the blonde remembered from Obito's inner world was noticing how his own body was dematerializing, then his vision blurring and his entire being getting suctioned into what he presumed to be some kind of dimensional breach.

It was the same thing he had felt before appearing in Tsukuyomi, he reckoned. The second time, however, he was able to build up some resistance not to let himself painfully fall apart in the transition. It was almost like Deidara had gained some control over his own spirit. The same thing probably didn't apply to that damn Uchiha, considering that he couldn't even move in and out of his own spiritual haven without erasing his memories. The artist sighed. And he was the one who wanted to replace the entire world with a new one!

Speaking of which, he had almost come to terms with the fact that his relationship with Obito was destined to fail. It was more convenient for everyone if Deidara just kept it inside; after all, he was the only one who had any recognition of their affair. It was as if it didn't happen at all. He felt bitter about it, sure. But this was real life, not some fantasy dimension. He had to move on.

So he shrugged. He made a motivational remark to Sasori, and when they arrived, he threw himself right into the battle.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Obito ran at full speed. Occasionally, he executed a kamui to make his steps faster. He knew he was about to do something foolish, interrupting an important tactical confrontation, but the issue was having too much of an emotional impact on him. According to his calculations, it would compromise his decision-making ability if he didn't sort out his complications regarding Deidara. Or, putting it more simply, he just _couldn't_ proceed with the plans in his current state.

He was already breathing hard and overexerting his chakra, and yet he hadn't found the bomber. If only he had paid more attention to Kabuto's rambling about the locations… Suddenly, he heard a loud rumble at an estimated few kilometers from him. Obito's expression lit up. He quickly hopped on top of a tree with a few jumps to see the scenery clearly. His suspicion was confirmed as another bomb went off in nearly the same place.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Wha-" Deidara landed on a stone block with a surprised gasp.

He quickly collected himself, standing up and brushing the dust off his clothes. He looked around, puzzled. The place was apparently made of the same, cubic pieces of rock.

"What the hell?" he mumbled under his breath. That's when he noticed Obito, sitting not too far from him. He had taken off his mask and was glaring at Deidara.

"Don't worry, these are just a few seconds of your actual life."

The Iwa nin smirked.

"So you've finally stopped playing games, huh?" he said, stepping closer to the older man.

"I honestly didn't remember until now" Obito stated in a neutral voice, almost pointing at a lack of interest, but not quite.

"Must've meant a lot to you then, un."

Deidara was now standing directly in front of him, looking down upon him with anger and bit of cruelty, even. He was about to burst. No one had the right to treat him like that, messing with his emotions and soul, not even letting him die peacefully.

"I've brought you here _because_ it means a lot to me."

Obito was punched in the face. It was much more serious than last time, full of force and frustration, and it sent him falling on his side. He rubbed his face - Deidara even hit him on the injured side - and looked away, not sure whether he could say something appropriate or not. Then he stood up and inched closer to the other who got paralyzed by surprise. The Uchiha kissed him tamely, as if it was an act of forgiveness.

Strangely enough, the artist didn't resist. Rather, it looked like he had given up and just didn't care anymore. Obito pulled away and started talking.

"I understand your anger, but just think! There's hope for everyone. We'll both live happily, everyone will! There's so little to do left-"

"You know, Obito" Deidara interrupted him, stepping farther "Your personality has one basic defect."

The dark-haired man gave him a puzzled look as he paced around, about to continue his monologue.

"I've been thinking about this for some time. You dissociate from reality. One bad thing happens to you, you put your entire life on the line to undo it. You expect perfection from everything and everyone and cling to delusions when the world doesn't go out of its way to appease you."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to create perfection when there's a realistic chance in succeeding!" Obito yelled angrily.

"Oh? _Realistic_? Having the _entire world_ live under a genjutsu? I'm sure no one is going to oppose that, un." the younger man laughed bitterly "Yeah, they'll be down for it! What a lovely idea!"

Before the ex-Konoha nin could rebut, Deidara spoke again.

"This is why you'll never understand my art, un. You are unable to appreciate the present, the fleeting moment you live in. You constantly cling to the past, that's why you summoned me in Tsukuyomi."

"I… didn't…"

"Oh yes, you did. You just don't have enough control over your powers and your mind not to use forbidden techniques impulsively or to remember doing so, for that matter."

Deidara was suddenly surrounded by chakra, a look of forceful concentration on his face. Obito was still speechless, concluding that the artist was probably right about everything.

"I can only hope you'll realize one day, un." And with that, his body started to decompose into small particles.

"Wait!" the raven stretched out his hand to grab ahold of the other man's arm, cloak, hair, anything. It was useless, his body was already semi-transparent. All that was left of the Iwa nin disappeared inside a vortex resembling kamui, which closed itself a moment later, leaving Obito alone in Tsukuyomi.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Deidara quickly regained consciousness. He stood up from the ground and quickly analyzed his surroundings.

"Where was I at?" he scratched his head.

"Oh, right. Here I come, Uchiha Sasuke, un!"

With that, he ran off into the woods. The sky had started to turn dark and the full moon had never looked so white and luminous.


End file.
